Review: 3.5 stars - good read, but not up with this author's best efforts.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 17, 2014
Jamie Denton blew me away with her contribution to the "How to be a Wicked Woman" anthology. Her novella, "Instructions in Seduction", was beyond H-O-T and the character development was really well done for a shorter story.Accordingly, I was looking forward to something similar with "Playing for Keeps". However, while the character development was sound enough, I felt there was too little investment in the relationship between the hero and heroine to justify their sudden life-changing interest in each other. If you are going to use insta-lust as the basis for significant character growth and development, there has to be a lot of credible sexual tension. I didn't get that with these two. Rather, I got the impression they were both tired of their less-than-fulfilling lives and were ready to settle for something that looked a bit more appealing. Not exactly an inspirational romance!Similarly, the intimate scenes were lacking the heat and originality Denton showcased so well in her previous work.Having said all that, I wouldn't dismiss the next novel in this series, as it involves a military hottie unexpectedly returning from the dead to reclaim his much adored wife who has moved onto a new marriage. What's not to like about that scenario? Fingers crossed, it will have some of the magic this story was missing.