Every summer, Stacey looks forward to the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire, the summer event she has participated in since high school. Now, however, she gets to see the super-hot lead singer in one of the traveling bands, Dex MacLean, who she’s had a no-strings fling with for the past two summers. But when the Faire ends, Stacey wonders if Dex has ever thought about her in a more meaningful way. Too much wine and a drunken Facebook message later, Stacey soon finds herself exchanging emails with the guy who, in person, seemed like he only wanted to have sex. But his emails and texts are meaningful and heartfelt, and Stacey is falling for a guy she only communicates with virtually and knows she will only see when his band returns to the Ren Faire.
Months go by and the connection Stacey feels to Dex grows stronger with each flirty text or confessional email. With the Faire set to start up again soon, Stacey anticipates finally seeing Dex in person, only when that time comes, she discovers she hasn’t been talking to Dex, but someone else entirely. . . the band’s manager and Dex’s quiet cousin, Daniel. Can Stacey find a way to forgive the man she’s told her deepest secrets and feelings to, even if she barely knows him?
What fun to return to the Willow Creek Ren Faire! Jen DeLuca’s sophomore novel, WELL PLAYEDis an enjoyable contemporary romance. The Faire is in full swing, brought fully to life through her thoughtful and vibrant descriptions of life behind the scenes. Characters from WELL MET, like Simon and Emily, Emily’s sarcastic older sister April, and the loveable, kilt-wearing former jock, Mitch (clearly being set up for book three). The Cyrano de Bergerac-style set up for Stacey and her love interest, Daniel, was slow to start--they spend almost half of the book physically apart, and then when their first in-person interaction is the confrontation of Daniel’s deception, Stacey’s realization is confusing. Can she really trust him going forward? However, once they get over this initial hump, they have a few blissful chapters of getting to know each other and figuring out how to make things work. . .
Told entirely from Stacey’s point of view, much of her inner dialogue is questioning her potential to do something more than stay in her hometown, which she returned to after her mother became ill after college graduation, and this became tiresome after a while. There’s a late-game plot diversion thrown in at the end that was hard to swallow after some of the declarations Stacey and Daniel had made to one another, and the grovel scene didn’t pack the punch needed for true forgiveness. But once these two worked out their issues, they ended up an adorable couple. A Ren Faire wedding, copious amounts of takeout food, a very funny cat named Benedick, and check-ins with beloved characters from book one makes WELL PLAYEDa fun and easy read. Looking forward to returning to Faire again soon--huzzah!
Another laugh-out-loud romantic comedy featuring kilted musicians, Renaissance Faire tavern wenches, and an unlikely love story.
Stacey is jolted when her friends Simon and Emily get engaged. She knew she was putting her life on hold when she stayed in Willow Creek to care for her sick mother, but it's been years now, and even though Stacey loves spending her summers pouring drinks and flirting with patrons at the local Renaissance Faire, she wants more out of life. Stacey vows to have her life figured out by the time her friends get hitched at Faire next summer. Maybe she'll even find The One.
When Stacey imagined "The One," it never occurred to her that her summertime Faire fling, Dex MacLean, might fit the bill. While Dex is easy on the eyes onstage with his band The Dueling Kilts, Stacey has never felt an emotional connection with him. So when she receives a tender email from the typically monosyllabic hunk, she's not sure what to make of it.
Faire returns to Willow Creek, and Stacey comes face-to-face with the man with whom she’s exchanged hundreds of online messages over the past nine months. To Stacey's shock, it isn't Dex—she's been falling in love with a man she barely knows.
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