REVIEW: Player by Estelle Every
Quick Take
I’ll be 100% transparent with you, this book took me a couple tries to start. While I was drawn to the book because it’s a college sports romance and featured the “enemies to lovers” and “dual POV” tropes, the first couple chapters I had to re-read a few times before I really got into the story line. After I got past that, everything came together pretty quick.
Player is the type of contemporary college sports romance that leans into intense attraction between the female main character and the male main character. In this case, we’ve got Dixie and the titled character, Player, two students who attend Old Meyer University. On move-in day, Player and Dixie run into each other - literally. After a not-so-pleasant interaction between the two, neither wants anything to do with each other.
While both try to stay away from each other, living in close to proximity to one another on a co-ed floor, makes it hard to not run into the other on a daily basis. Throughout the story line, the tension gets to the point where I was holding my breath to see what would happen between the two. For those who love steamy romances, this book is definitely for you.
What Worked For Me
The Chemistry between Dixie and Player was intense. The beginning reminded me of other books where strangers run into each other, either having a positive or negative interaction, and go about their separate ways. They do this only to later realize they’re go to the same class, school, work, etc. Estelle does a wonderful job in creating this scenario.
Secondary characters add substance to the plot throughout the entire book. Sometimes secondary characters are overshadowed by the main leads in books, but in Player all characters blend into the plot very well. All the characters that we meet play important roles in shaping Dixie and Players character arcs.
Cliffhanger sets up for Player: A Second Chance Romance. Once I got past the initial few chapters, the book maintained a consistent pace until the very end, where things seemed a bit rushed. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait too long to see where the story goes.
What Didn’t Work For Me
Length of the intimate scenes. There were times where I thought they went on too long. Despite this though, the dual POV was beneficial in understanding what was going through each characters minds when the acts were occurring.
On-field scenes seemed way too short for me. While I have read several sports romances - mostly hockey focused - I couldn’t help but think that the football scenes were to shallow and short. As this book is marketed as a sports romance, I felt that the “sports” part was overshadowed by the relationship between the main characters. I would have liked to have seen more on-field action and banter between the players.
Content Notes:
For those who may be interested in reading this, trigger warnings are:
On-page intimate scenes
Fight scenes
On-field sports injuries
Verdict
Overall the book was very easy to follow along with and there will be a second book coming that ties up the storyline. If you want a quick read with steam, football, and plot, this is a good choice. For those who really live for the sports part in a college sports romance - I would pass.
