Review: Play by Kylie Scott

Play
(Stage Dive #2)
Author: Kylie Scott
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Published: March 25, 2014
Genre: Romance, New Adult, Adult, Contemporary
My Rating:

Kylie Scott returns with the highly anticipated follow-up to international bestseller Lick.
Mal Ericson, drummer for the world famous rock band Stage Dive, needs to clean up his image fast-at least for a little while. Having a good girl on his arm should do the job just fine. Mal doesn’t plan on this temporary fix becoming permanent, but he didn’t count on finding the one right girl.
Anne Rollins never thought she’d ever meet the rock god who plastered her teenage bedroom walls-especially not under these circumstances. Anne has money problems. Big ones. But being paid to play the pretend girlfriend to a wild life-of-the-party drummer couldn’t end well. No matter how hot he is. Or could it?

“Life`s a song, Anne. Let’s play.”

You cannot just simply resist Mal Ericson.

I have been so interested to read the Mal’s story ever since Lick. Well who doesn’t want to get to know him more? He’s such a fun and goofy character and I knew that behind his playful attitude there’s a different side of him that we have yet to see.

Malcolm “Mal” Ericson is Stage Dive’s drummer. He is known as someone who always “plays” around when it comes to women. With his happy-go-lucky lifestyle, relationship is certainly out of the picture. But when he met a personal dilemma that requires him to basically snag a pretend girlfriend, he didn’t have a choice but to look for the perfect one to act as his girl. Meeting Anne Rollins at Ev and David’s party though was a perfect timing. They automatically clicked after a few minutes of flirting. And because Anne happens to have financial troubles, he proposed to meet her needs in exchange of moving with her in her apartment and her cooperation in his pretend relationship scheme.

“You’re the best boyfriend. Fake or not.”

You can imagine my face while I was reading this book the whole time.

There were certainly lots of hilarious moments in this book. Mal didn’t fail to crack me up with his sexual innuendos with Anne and his crazy exchange and shenanigans with his band mates. Hilarious scenes aside, there was an emotional side to it that made me appreciate its entirety. I loved Mal and Anne’s dynamic. While Mal might be a player, his character development throughout the story– the way he stuck to Anne and basically followed a monogamous relationship, very well pleased me. There was no cheating involved which made me love this book even more. I also loved Anne’s character. The way she accepted Mal behind his many layers and the way she stood by him despite the fact the she too has some personal issues was really admirable. This couple is perfect for each other!

Like most pretend relationship books, these characters fell into a real relationship together, but what I loved about this book was Mal and Anne’s mutual acceptance when it comes to their weak sides. Each conflict was immediately resolved without getting into so much drama which I really loved.

What also made me embrace this book was Mal’s relationship with his family, especially with his mom. It was touching. I even found myself crying over some scenes here. I think his family relationship was the one that truly changed Anne’s feelings toward her mom, too.

I also thought the rock star theme here was more palpable compared to the previous book. In this installment there was certainly a lot of stage actions by the Stage Dive. I felt their passion to music because of their performances and connection with their fans.

“Mal’s playing and the music owned me, the smoothness of his movements and his absolute focus. His energy.”

Kylie Scott made it really possible to balance out both the hilarious and emotional vibes in this book. Play, in my opinion, was better than Lick. I loved that it possesses all the elements (sexy times included) to make it a lot more enjoyable. If you’ve enjoyed David and Ev’s story in Lick, then you definitely need to get into Mal’s story.

Rating:

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