Reformed con artist Ciara Griffin doesn't know what to expect when she's recruited for an internship with local radio station WMMP. Ciara doesn't know why the station chose her, but she's interested in the opportunity to combine her love of music and her interest in business. Ciara has vowed to give up the grift, and making an honest living over the summer seems like a logical first step. Yet when Ciara meets the DJs from the station, she can tell that something's a little off about them. They're all dressed strangely, and use dated slang that seems anachronistic for hip, finger-on-the-pulse DJs. But when she's given some required reading before starting her position, Ciara begins to realize what's happening. These people actually believe that they're vampires, and that they're frozen in the time that they were made. So Monroe, an African American who died in the 40s, refuses to meet Ciara because when he was turned a black man could be lynched for being in the same room as a white woman. And Shane, a grunge era devotee who was turned in the mid-90's, is still heavily influenced by Nirvana and remains slightly depressed as was typical back then.

Initially, Ciara reacts with skepticism and disbelief. After all, this is a girl who was raised on scams, so she knows one when she sees it. But when Shane bites her during their first date, and she captures a glimpse of fang, her first instinct is to cut and run, causing her to decline the position, and keep far far away from the vampires. Eventually, she's convinced to come back and help the station develop a marketing plan to combat a takeover by media conglomerate Skywave. Skywave just wants to turn WMMP into another cookie-cutter station that plays the same music all the time, and would put the vampires out of a job and at risk. So Ciara develops a plan to help the gang keep their night jobs, though there is some risk involved. See Ciara's plan means outing the vampires for what they really are. She has a new vision for the station. WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock n' Roll. But there are some vampires who want their identities to remain a secret.

The first thing you'll notice about WICKED GAME is that it comes with a playlist that characterizes the music choices of all the DJs at the station. From Shane's favorite band Nirvana to some John Lee Hooker for Monroe, this soundtrack is varied and interesting. I just wish I'd felt the same way about the book itself. I thought WICKED GAME was entertaining, but the story lagged continually and it was hard to keep myself motivated that things would eventually pick up. Ciara was a sympathetic heroine because, while she did aggravating things and made stupid mistakes, she always owned up to them and acknowledged the fact that she had done something irrational. This made her very easy to like. And Shane was a sweet guy for a hero—but maybe a little too sweet. It seemed to me that he let Ciara walk all over him, and I didn't respect him for it. In WICKED GAME it's Ciara who ran the show, and Shane was just along for the ride. As for the action with the takeover and marketing campaign to prevent it, I felt the pacing was uneven, which made it difficult to want to keep reading. As a whole, I liked this book, but I didn't love it. However, I would definitely pick up another of Smith-Ready's future efforts and just hope that it was more polished than this one.