Review: Play (Stage Dive #2) by Kylie Scott

Play (Stage Dive #2) by Kylie Scott

Publication Date: March 25, 2014
Page Count: 304
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Review copy received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Adult Contemporary Romance **Contains Mature Content**
Recommended for ages 17+ due to sexual situations and language.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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?

Ooh, I'm really loving this series!

Mal is complicated. Like, seriously complicated. And yummy. He turned out to be so much deeper than the fun guy he was portrayed as in Lick. He has an almost manic side hiding under all that snarky fun attitude. Despite the moods and manic behavior, I found myself constantly smiling because of his antics. Turns out he has quite a romantic side, and he's darn near impossible to resist.

Anne was at a point in her life where she needed a change. Enter Mal, who makes her take a serious look at her life. He can see right away that she is a push-over and a people pleaser, so he wants to help her toughen up and not be taken advantage of. I could understand where Mal was coming from with his assessment of Anne, but I think he started overstepping his boundaries by being too aggressive and forward with Anne. I was so happy that she stood up to Mal and didn't let him get away with any crap. Go Anne!!!!

Mal and Anne never expected to develop a relationship, and they certainly weren't looking for it, but somehow they managed to fall in love. They were complete opposites, and I think that was what made their story so believable and made their interactions so wildly entertaining. They both have serious issues they are dealing with, and neither one wants to push the other too far. As they spend time together, they slowly learn to trust each other and open up. I thought their differences created a lot of conflict that they had to learn to work through. It wasn't smooth sailing for them, and I appreciated that they learned how to communicate with each other.

As much as I love Mal, I have to say that David is still my favorite Stage Dive member. There. I said it. I can't take it back. David and Ev and the rest of Stage Dive make their appearances in Play, and I love the tight, family-like relationship that they have going on.

I thought Play was a fantastic read that went by really fast, and I found myself wanting more! I would have preferred a little bit more resolution to Mal and Anne's original issues. But overall, this was a pretty cute read, sweet and spicy, with the right amount of angst and romance.

While I am excited to read the next book in this series, Lead, I have to admit that I really didn't like Jimmy in the first book. He started coming around a little bit for me during Play, so I'm willing to give him a chance. It's just hard for me going into it not knowing if he can redeem himself in my eyes. Time will tell.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars