Well Played

3.5/5 Stars

We are back in Willow Creek for another Renaissance Faire, but this time our protagonist is Stacey. Stacey grew up in Willow Creek and despite wanting to leave, she feels she must stay to help care for her mother. She starts to reevaluate her life when her friends Simon and Emily get engaged and realizes she might want to find The One. She never thought The One could be Dex MacLean, a traveling performer at Faire, but when the two begin exchanging emails, she is drawn to Dex. However, when she finds out that it was not actually Dex she had been messaging for several months, she must decide if the mystery man is worth pursuing. 

I wanted to love this. After being a bit disappointed by Well Met, I had hopes that Well Played would work for me better. A different protagonist meant that what bothered me in book 1 (Well Met), might not in book 2 (Well Played). 

Overall, this was true. I preferred Stacey as a protagonist over Emily and the overall plot was more interesting. However, I think the pacing felt off to me. I was hoping for more of the Renaissance Faire magic, but because most of that was introduced in book 1, I felt it was lacking in Well Played. This isn’t necessarily a negative to readers, but I wanted more of the Willow Creek care-free summer that I had gotten in Well Met (it probably doesn’t help I read the books back-to-back). 

The romance was overall good, but I couldn’t get past the fact that Stacey was cat-fished this entire time. It was a cute romance, but I think I needed more development of their relationship or in the resolution to make it work for me.