Title: Falling for the Player
Author: Jessica Lee
Publisher: Entangled : Embrace
Release Date: January 16, 2017
Genre(s): New Adult, Contemporary Romance
Page Count: 193
Reviewed by: Crabbypatty
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Blurb:
Bad boy and former NFL running back Patrick Guinness is tired of meaningless sex. Ever since his scorching hot one-night stand three years ago, no one has interested him. So when Max Segreti wanders into his mechanic shop—and his life again—Patrick can’t stop thinking about the totally-out-of-his-league law grad and the possibility of getting him out of his system once and for all…
Max Segreti has spent his entire life doing what his father wants. But when he runs into the hotter-than-hell player he’s never been able to forget, he’s not thinking about studying for the bar. A distraction is the last thing he needs, but after an encounter leaves him wanting more, Max embraces the chaos that Patrick brings…even as he knows it can’t last. They’re too different to ever have a future together.
After a chance meeting at a bar, law student Max and star running back Patrick have an incredibly hot one-night-stand in college and then each goes his separate way. When they next meet three years later, sexy nerd Max is studying for the bar exam while Patrick is working in his family’s garage. Turns out Patrick’s career in the NFL ended after only two years due to a knee injury and when Patrick’s younger brother Liam gets in trouble with the law, Patrick asks Max for legal help and soon the two men are in a relationship.
Jessica Lee certainly knows her way around a steamy “Tell me you want me to fuck you” scene or two or ten, and Falling for the Player has a lot of really hot sex, but because there’s not a lot of character development, it is difficult to see how Max and Patrick have any spark beyond sex. And once they begin dating, the narrative skips ahead several weeks (“Max was dreaming. That was the only explanation for how awesome the last few weeks had been.”) so we don’t get a sense of their dynamic.
There is also a lot of miscommunication between Patrick and Max, such as Patrick’s immediate assumption that Max would never want to have a relationship with someone not in his social class or Max taking care of some financial issues without consulting Patrick. But there is plenty of angsty internal dialogue and it almost seems as if for every sentence uttered by either man, there is a paragraph or two of internal musing and pondering.
I liked the bones of this plot but lack of character development and pacing issues (and the extensive internal monologues) were too much for me to overcome. I give Falling for the Player 3 stars and recommend it with caution.
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