The Play by Elle Kennedy
Genre: NA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book): A brand-new standalone novel in the New York Times bestselling Briar U series!
What I learned after last year’s distractions cost my hockey team our entire season? No more screwing up. No more screwing, period. As the new team captain, I need a new philosophy: hockey and school now, women later. Which means that I, Hunter Davenport, am officially going celibate…no matter how hard that makes things.
But there’s nothing in the rulebook that says I can’t be friends with a woman. And I won’t lie—my new classmate Demi Davis is one cool chick. Her smart mouth is hot as hell, and so is the rest of her, but the fact that she’s got a boyfriend eliminates the temptation to touch her.
Except three months into our friendship, Demi is single and looking for a rebound.
And she’s making a play for me.
Avoiding her is impossible. We’re paired up on a yearlong school project, but I’m confident I can resist her. We’d never work, anyway. Our backgrounds are too different, our goals aren’t aligned, and her parents hate my guts.
Hooking up is a very bad idea. Now I just have to convince my body—and my heart.
MY OPINION: ***
I love Hunter Davenport with all my heart but this book was not my favorite of Kennedy's so far. In the previous book, Hunter started his chastity vow and decided to no longer get with any women until the end of his hockey season. He is assigned to work on a project with a pretty girl but she's off-limits because she has a boyfriend, making it a perfect arrangement.
However, Demi breaks up with her boyfriend towards the middle of the book and ends up single and ready for a rebound with Hunter. This causes a big problem with him and his allegiance towards his chastity vow.
I ended up not liking this one as much as the others because I did not personally ship Demi and Hunter. They had no chemistry and Demi's character aggravated me half the time. I didn't like how their relationship began and I didn't like their relationship after it had began. It was missing the "spark" that Kennedy's books so far have had, and I was disappointed, especially since I love Hunter and was very excited to read his story.
Demi was a very annoying character, as much as I hate to say it. She often tried to push Hunter to give up his vow and did not respect his wishes, which I did not like about her. She also was not a very good friend to the people she was "close" to, such as Pax and TJ, and was even mean to Hunter when he was right about something just because she was so adamant that her relationship with her boyfriend was just so amazing. While I did feel bad for her with everything that happened in her previous relationship, her personality and actions were all annoying.
I hated the ending. I didn't think it was necessary, especially with everything that happened with Pax. I don't think it needed to be in this otherwise fairly "lighthearted" book and I also don't think the situation and the problems Pax was going through was treated in the best way. I think that the readers could have been better educated on the topic in this book if it was going to be mentioned in the first place but in the end, it was mostly as if it were forgotten and Demi got to play the same annoying character.
I did like the slow-burn aspect of this book but I wish overall that the characters could have been more likable or at the very least have had more chemistry. Their relationship was not very believable or realistic, especially not in comparison to the previous books.
I would recommend this book to readers looking for a fiery, cute, fluffy romance. I don't want to spoil what happens but please look up the trigger warnings of this book before reading.
Main Character: Hunter, Demi
Sidekick(s): Friends, family, etc
Villain(s): Misunderstandings, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all real to life.
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