Playing the Game (Neighborly Affection #1)
by M.Q. Barber
My Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Erotica/ Erotic Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/m/f
Blurb:
She expects dinner with neighbors—but gets sex with a side of safewords. Fantasies about her neighbors spice up Alice’s nights, even a year after she’s moved in. She can’t decide whether the men are roommates or partners, but either way, they spark a wanton desire in this mechanical engineer that has her imagination—and vibrator—working overtime.Henry, director of everything around him, studies human nature and applies philosophies to his paintings as well as his relationships. Quirky and polite to a fault, he follows his own code of honor even when it means denying himself.
Charming and playful, Jay craves stability, guidance, and the chance to please others. His antics counterbalance Henry’s formal ways and bring vulnerability and fun to the trio’s adventures.
BDSM play with the enigmatic artist and flirtatious joker across the hall allows Alice to quiet the too-logical mind that has kept her unsatisfied and distant with other lovers. She must reconsider her notions of love, submission, and independence if she’s to find a permanent place in their bed and hearts.
My Review
I picked this one up when I was in the mood for a steamy read and while it definitely delivered on that front I did find myself wishing there was more about the characters to really make me feel invested.
Playing the game is told from Alice’s point of view after living in her new apartment complex for a year and getting to know her neighbors Jay and Henry they invite her to join them for the sexy games they play. Alice signs the contract and become Henry’s submissive.
After a brief scene in the current time, there is a weird flashback type chapter were the reader gets told how much these 3 spend time together and know each other already before that fateful dinner were they invite Alice to join their games. I almost DNF’d the book right there and then as the flashback was way too long, but also was in a very stated way just telling what has happened the last year and how close these three are. I would’ve fine without that flashback as I think the depth of their connection could be shown differently. Once Alice joins them for the dinner were they invite her to play their games I felt like the book really starts.
I rarely read books that are this steamy and it took a while to get used to it as there is very little story outside of the sexy times. Luckily I am always reading multiple books so I could switch to other books if I wanted more plot. I am impressed with the variety in the steamy scenes, each scene was different from the last and despite there being so many of them it didn’t feel repetitive. There also is a lot of variety in the steamy content and this does make it so that some of them worked better for me than others.
I liked the whole set up with Alice and her two neighbors. They each have enough of a distinct personality to easily remember who is who and give them their own vibes during their encounters, but I just wanted more. I wanted to get to know them more and have them talk things through more There is this set-up for some conflict/ drama with Alice growing fonder and maybe wanting some romance too, but not speaking up about it. This kinda slowly builds throughout the book and never actually gets resolved. I am assuming there will be more of this in future books, but I am not sure if I want to continue this series. This was not a short book and there was just so little about the characters themselves that it made it hard for me to be fully invested. I still don’t know what type of work Alice does and only about 60% in the book there is a mention of her having a sister. I feel like this series has potential, but I am just not sure if I want to continue it to see if gets better for me. From the blurb it does sound like future books will deal with more of their personal struggles. I also have read books like Ember Blaze’s her books that I feel do the balance between romance and steam better and that made it hard not to compare this one to those books.
To summarize: This is a great book to pick up if you want a steamy read with lots of steam and variety in the sexy scenes. I was impressed with the variety in the sex scenes and I thought they were well written. Some of the scenes worked better for me than others, but that makes sense with this many steamy scenes. What I struggled with is that there is very little to the book outside of the sex. I don’t really read very steamy books like this often. I want to get to know the characters and have some romance too and that was very minimal in this book and those scenes always felt a bit off or rushed. I don’t feel like I really got to know the characters very well despite them all having a distinct personality, I just wanted more depth and more to really feel their connection. There is some slight conflict/ drama that isn’t brought to resolution yet despite slowly building throughout this book. I think future books might delve more into the characters personalities and struggles, but I am not yet sure if I want to continue the series.
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