Robin Covington

After publicly self-destructing over a heartbreak a year ago, bestselling romance writer Piper James has one last chance to impress her publisher by agreeing to teach Hollywood's favorite action star how to act like he's in love for the movie adaption of one of her books. Only playboy Mick Blackwell has no clue what love looks like. The sizzling chemistry between them, though, needs no help. And as things heat up, Piper jumps at the chance for a bit of fun between the sheets, but with two stipulations: she's kept out of the public eye and things end when she returns to New York. Except Mick keeps changing the rules on her. Tempted by America's favorite bad boy, Piper is wondering how far she's willing to bend...

Playing the Part

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Big meh on this one. Yet another "I don't do relationships, only one night stands" bad boy as the H. The h at least is a little different than standard - she's got a "sexy librarian" look and is very liberated sexually and by that I mean that she has no problem having sex just for sex and doesn't play the "hard to get good girl" trope. So at least there's that. Also having a biracial H scores a point for being different from most mainstream romance Hs.

What was missing here for me is any reason at all why either of these two people fell in love with each other. Sure, they're both good-looking but so were tons of their past partners and there was no love match there. Sure the sex is great but so it was with tons of their past partners. In short, there was just no connection between these two to explain why they fell for each other, other than the author tells us so.

The h is wishy washy - she keeps convincing herself that she should absolutely not have sex with Mick (and what kind of a name is that for a hot biracial California dude?) but then he's just so (sigh) hot that she can't help herself. She's already been wrecked by another good-looking, self-centered bad boy - enough to jeopardize her career, no less - but by all means, jump into the sack with another one, especially one that is the lead actor in the movie based on your book that your publisher has forced you to "coach" to improve the movie in order to salvage your contract with said publisher. She also says she wants to keep a low profile and stay out of the news/tabloids after her last debacle (repeatedly referred to as her "public freak-out") but then what does she do? She of course has an affair with the hottest actor in Hollywood. Great idea to stay out of the press . I was like, how stupid can this woman get? Piper quickly became irritating to me.

I have nothing against sex scenes (and in fact often enjoy them) but in this book, it felt like the sex scenes were a replacement for any meaningful character or relationship development. That made them boring for me.

Jessica Nottingham

Perfection. That's the first thought that entered my mind after finishing Playing the Part. Those of you who have followed me for any length of time know that I'm a greenhorn in the world of romance. However books like this, gorgeous books with strong characters and sizzling chemistry, make me want to dive even deeper.

First off I completely loved Piper. Witty, intelligent, and honest to a fault, she's the perfect female lead for this story. I couldn't get over how real Piper's character was. Here is a woman who has just been through a terrible breakup, and worse yet she had to do it complete with glaring Hollywood headlines. Yet Piper is still strong. She second guesses herself, sure, but she's a fighter and I totally adored that about her.

Then of course there's Mick and I'd be lying if I said I didn't love him. What's not to love? Total playboy on the outside (and oh does he know it) and yet he has a heart too. Everything about Mick screams "Perfect Man!" even when he manages to screw things up. Okay I'm sugarcoating things. Let's leave it at this: Mick isn't just hot, he's MOLTEN LAVA hot. He's sinfully delicious, and I couldn't get enough of him.

Which of course means that these two very sexy, very stubborn characters have massive heat between them! I'm going to be very tame and say that the sex scenes in this story were perfection. However if had witnessed my reading this book you likely would have noticed me fanning myself quite a few times. Does that perhaps give you a better insight into how spicy things get between these two?

Loved it! That's the long and short of it. I could go on and on, but it boils down to the fact that I utterly loved Playing the Part. Thank you to Robin Covington for further proving to me that romance is my kind of genre! I'm eager for so much more.

Playing the Part

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