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Blurb
New York Times bestselling author Lara Adrian returns to the sizzling, emotional world of the 100 Series with Play My Game, a contemporary romance between a tormented, brilliant painter and the beauty he is determined to have at any cost.
She stands out like a flame in the dark. Out of place in my orbit, she is a bright splash of color in an abyss of darkness. An innocent in a den of sin. And I, Jared Rush, am a master of corruption.
Like my paintings—dark, carnal images that have crowned me the king of the avant-garde art world while also making me a very rich man—I don’t flinch away from my baser instincts. And now, every one of those instincts is hungry for the fresh-faced beauty who made the mistake of wandering into my lair.
I don’t know her name yet, but that’s inconsequential. I know who she belongs to. And while she has nothing to do with the bad blood that’s been festering inside me for decades, I can’t help thinking about that old, unsettled score. I’m thinking about payback. And I already have a price in mind. One that begins with her.
When it comes to getting what I want, I always play to win. But in the end, will the cost of my vengeance be more than I can bear to lose?
While this novel is Book 5 in the 100 Series, featuring characters introduced in earlier books, PLAY MY GAME can be read as a complete standalone with a swoon-worthy HEA and no cliffhangers.
Review
4.5 sexy, emotional and intense stars!
I love this book! An intense, emotional and deliciously seductive love story that captured my heart and had me absolutely captivated!
This book is part of the 100 series, but it can easily be read as a standalone. There is some character crossover, but it’s minor, and written in a way where you don’t need to understand previous stories in order to enjoy this one. So feel free to dive in!
Jared Rush is a brilliant artist whose hedonistic paintings have made him a fortune. He has a reputation as being a bit of a deviant playboy, but he has come from humble beginnings and has survived a traumatic childhood to get to where he is. He still holds a lot of anger over his past, and when an opportunity is presented to him to get his vengeance, he takes it.
Melanie is a part time student working two jobs to help support her family. It’s her boyfriend that drags her into Jared’s world, but he runs into trouble and the only way to get him out of it is if she poses for one of Jared’s paintings. She reluctantly agrees, but she has no idea that Jared’s ultimate plan is to seduce her.
It’s a dark set up, and Jared comes across as this controlling millionaire who takes what he wants, but there is an denying the sizzling attraction between the two of them. It’s there from their very first encounter, and my heart was pounding with anticipation to see how it would all play out.
I saw her, and I knew I had to have her. On my canvas. In my bed. At my total mercy.
This book has the feel of those darkly intense romances that were so hugely popular (and that I was obsessed with) in the early 2010s – Fifty Shades, Crossfire, In Flight, etc., but without the BDSM – and I was thrilled to be able to experience that feeling again. That sense of power beneath heart-pounding excitement and desperation as you wait for two characters to come together.
This need is something different. It’s something deeper. Something she’s not ready for.
Maybe neither of us are ready to give in to what we both want from each other.
Jared has all the hallmarks of your controlling alpha millionaire – he’s not obsessive, but he’s certainly intense and all-consuming, and he pursues Melanie with raw determination. While his initial plan may be been one of revenge, he feels so much more for Melanie than he ever anticipated. His desire for her just leaps off the page, and I loved seeing him experience that sort of emotion for the first time.
I should let her go. I never should have brought her into any of this in the first place.
But it’s too late for that.
Too late for either one of us. There’s no undoing the connection that’s been smoldering between us since our eyes locked for the first time. Now, those flames are on the verge of exploding into something neither of us can control.
And Melanie is a wonderful heroine. She’s strong, stubborn and determined, and even when faced with such a powerful presence as Jared, she’s not a pushover. She’s feeling their attraction just as strongly as he is, but she makes him work for it, and she’s not about to accept anything that is not on her terms, and I love that about her!
The sexy time is seriously hot. There wasn’t as much as I was expecting, and there’s quite a bit of build-up that goes into it before they get down and dirty, but it’s so worth the wait. Passionate and explosive, it reflects all that they feel for each other, and the emotion is really well written.
“You’re mine.” I say it fiercely, needing her to understand. “I love you, Melanie Laurent. For the rest of my life, I’m going to love you.”
They both have demons in their pasts, and there is some drama as secrets are revealed. It was more emotional than I was anticipating, and I felt everything with them as they dealt with it all. And it presents the opportunity for a swoony-as-hell ending that had me clutching my heart and grinning like a fool as Jared and Melanie find their HEA.
This is a really great read. It was just the intense, all-consuming romance that I was in the mood for. I loved Jared and Melanie as characters, and their story is beautiful.
I loved it – 4.5 stars!
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
100 series
Original, continuous story featuring one couple
For 100 Days (#1)
Review
Buy: Amazon | Paperback
For 100 Nights (#2)
Review
Buy: Amazon | Paperback
For 100 Reasons (#3)
Review
Buy: Amazon | Paperback
Standalone stories featuring side characters set in the ‘100 Series’ world
