Review: Playing to Win

Playing to Win
By Shelley Munro

Professional rugby player Lane Gerrard is used to women throwing themselves at him, but a scurrilous tabloid article naming him as father of a child sends his temper soaring. The woman he confronts doesn’t fit the blackmailer profile. Kate Alexander is attractive with an enchanting innocence, enticing. A total stranger. Her feistiness draws his unwilling admiration, but the child…he is the image of Lane.

Kate can’t deny her son’s similarity to the sexy man at her door but no way will she hand him over without a fight. Kate doesn’t possess money but she can shower her son with love. With public speculation rife, Kate reluctantly works with Lane to discover the truth. They grow closer as distrust slowly turns to mutual fascination, but the tabloid articles bring out a stalker. Mild pranks escalate into danger, and suddenly Lane realizes Kate is a woman he could love. With Kate and her son, he could have a family. Now, with his heart on the line, this is one game he’s playing to win.

This story had me wide-eyed the entire time I was reading. I knew that Ms. Munro could write romance with zing but this is the first book I’ve read of hers where the focus was on suspense and drama. It was an incredible experience and I’m still pumped from reading it.

The story follows Kate, an aromatherapist who is raising her sister’s son. She’s doing alright for herself, considering the hell she’s pulled herself out of. Kate is plucky, strong, loving and I liked her character.

The initial part of the plot centers around the allegations that Kate is actually the birth mother of Jamie, her son. Lane, a hunky and wealthy rugby player, is the dad. A dad that had abandoned his child as soon as he supposedly found out Kate was pregnant ten years before and the newspapers are at their muckraking finest in exploiting the story.

The emotional conflicts between Lane and Kate and then Lane and Jamie, his son–or is he?–were well done and logical. Once I understood where Kate was coming from, so much made sense and I was invested in the hope of Kate getting her HEA.

Lane is the perfect gentleman and Kate is having a really hard time believing it. Due to her bad experience in the past, she digs her heels in many times throughout the story. And each time made perfect sense for her to do so. Kamagra is one of those medicines that are the best for this disorder. buy viagra in canada And if a man is having relationship while rx generic viagra suffering from this, it can be painful, sad, distressful and frustrating for him and partner too. Lack of sleep can be sucking for his energy, stamina and passion to be in the bed. cute-n-tiny.com generic cialis online People become alienated and also fall in the trap of cheap pills : Usually, a pack of crushed leaves of this herb once in a week help to prevent these infections. tadalafil cheapest price The result is heightened sensual tension that is as suspenseful as the external conflict.

The external conflict comes in the form of some pranks against Kate which quickly morph into scary and unnerving incidents. I’m glad she didn’t play the hero, nor did Lane. The police were involved in a realistic manner which was a breath of fresh air. A lot of stories lately have the hero or heroine acting like hotshots while downplaying the role of regular law enforcement. I found Ms. Munro’s handling of Kate’s crisis very well written as well as the climax of the ultimate criminal act. That scene defined the word ‘suspense’.

Another thing I enjoyed were the well written love scenes between Lane and Kate. They were romantic and tender yet intensely sensual and hot – scenes Ms. Munro is a master at. I could understand Kate’s holding back from the pull of attraction because of the ghosts from her past. Lane’s persistent pursuit was interspersed with gentle humor, patience–even though it killed him–and sexual prowess. Yet through it all, I got to see their relationship grow and love blossom even during a most stressful situation. The timing of everything was spot on.

I also noticed a wonderful aspect during the story. No matter how crazy the situation got, Kate never forgot about Ratty the rat. As filled with suspense and mayhem as this story gets, Ms. Munro never forgot the littlest critter. Believe me, I wondered. So every time I saw him being cared for in the story, I mentally high-fived the author. It’s all in the details and she didn’t miss a trick.

I highly recommend Playing to Win for both the intense suspense and drama, the well developed characters,the hot loving and an HEA that will satisfy any romance reader. It has it all.

Rating:

Reviewed by Xeranth