⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4.5
Playing Nice
J.P. Delaney
Publication date 7/28/20

This book is a parents worst nightmare!! Imagine a stranger knocking on your day with information that will change your life from this point on. Switched at birth - how could this happen in this day in age? The families decided to get to know one another, the original plan gets twisted and this thriller takes a crazy turn. You will question every character in this story. All the characters are complex and you will not be able to put this book down
Do you believe in nature versus nurture? This book will take you to place where you will question everything and everyone......
Another fabulous book from J.P. Delaney!!! This author never disappoints!

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I really, really loved this novel. Beautifully written, it was dark and tense, loving and scary all at the same time which I guess could easily be said about the act of parenting and parental love at the heart of the story. A young London couple realize that their son, Theo, had been switched at birth, I hesitate to write that phrase in lower case as we always see it in headlines with exclamation points and I always read the articles with fascination. Wouldn’t they know? Nature vs nurture? Intuition? What happens now? How is it in twenty years? Do you switch them back or keep the status quo? . Do you do something differently? How can relationships withstand this bizarre nightmare? Does money and power get an advantage.? What if one parent orchestrated it? So many questions and we explore them all along with a dire sense of foreboding. This can’t turn out well, surely?

Nerve-wracking from start to finish. Kept me on the edge of my seat. Great thriller.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49078674

I am a very enthusiastic fan of J.P. Delaney and I was excited to get a ARC of this book.

Once I picked it up I read it nonstop even in a busy airport. This story dealt with a interesting plot of two families fighting for custody of their children. I won't spoil the ending but I will say the story keeps you on your toes until the final chapter. Lots of twists and turns and characters who have complex backstories.

This is definitely in my top 2 books by this author. I highly recommend this book if you want a fast paced and engaging story to add to your reading collection. 5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and JP Delaney for this Advanced Copy.

I finished this book in 3 sittings when I didn't have many checkouts from the library. JP Delaney is back on top of thriller writing with this book because The Perfect Wife wasn't so perfect to me, especially after reading The Girl Before. Imagine the angst and horror a couple feels after a surprise visit at their door about the son they have raised for the last two years. Imagine their shock to discover that the child they have loved for 2yrs isn't their child, and was switched at the hospital. So many questions about that night come rushing back to all involved. Was it really a mistake or was this planned?

I was honestly at the edge of my seat reading Delaney's latest book. I had a hard time putting it down actually. I was so glad this wasn't predictable even though I thought at one point it was going to be. So glad I was wrong. Be prepared for many shocked, twists and turns in this book! It is worth the read!

Thanks to NetGalley, JP Delaney and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I will definitely be recommending this one for sure.

What would you do if you found out that you took the wrong baby home from the hospital? That's the premise of JP Delaney's "Playing Nice". Two couples have to decide what to do when they discover that they've been raising the wrong child. Their relationship quickly descends into hatred and revenge. This book has a lot of twists and turns, but they sometimes felt predictable. Overall, "Playing Nice" was a good book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

Everytime I receive approval to read one of JP Delaney's books I am SO HAPPY! I am such a huge fan.

Playing Nice is a bit different than previous books, but amazing in its own right! I loved the story line, and makes you think, wow this could happen!

I loved how the characters were developed. Even though Miles was terrible, I did enjoy reading how he planned to carry through the case during this story.

Forever a JP Delaney Fan!

I loved this book! Two babies, switched at birth, discovery made two years later. What should be done? JP Delaney is the master of writing about narcissists which makes me wonder what he’s like 😂. But seriously, he has a grasp on psychopaths, narcissists and even very flawed protagonists. I read this book through the night, as I needed to know how it would end.

If you have, or have had children, you will not be able to put down “Playing Nice” until you have read the last page.
Imagine you have a two year old and someone comes to your door claiming they have DNA tested your son and he, not you is his father.
The tension increases from there.
As you switch between the two main narrators discovering their flaws and wondering whose version you can trust, you cannot help but wonder what you would do as the situation becomes an increasingly intolerable nightmare.
The pace is unrelenting
I reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Highly recommended.

I absolutely loved this book! I could not put it down! If you are a fan of psychological thrillers with crazy twists, you will not want to miss this book.

Peter Riley is a stay at home dad who gets a terrible surprise when Miles Lambert shows up at his door and tells him their babies were mixed up when in the NICU and they have each other's child. Everything starts out amicable and the families try to meet and get to know one another and the boys. This is where the book goes crazy.

I would highly recommend this book. It is so good.

Thank you to NetGalley, publisher, and author for an advanced copy of this book for my honest review.

Another great read! The author does a great job of getting right to the story and engaging you in an immediate way. Two families, two newborn children, and the havoc created with a switch. What more can you ask for?

Pete Riley is a stay at home dad of a rambunctious little boy named Theo. One morning while dropping him off at nursery school he notices two men and a woman watching as he picks up his son at school. He at first believed they must be looking at homes in the area until a short time later, there is a knock on his door and it’s the man he saw. His name is Miles Lambert and he brings the unbelievable news that Theo is actually his son not Petes’
While the two families meet and seem to have common goals on how to join the two families, Miles becomes more and more intrusive until things reach a breaking point and they end up at odds and decides to sue for custody. There is also an official investigation into how the children were switched. There are millions of dollars at stake as well as possible criminal charges and both families are hiding secrets.
I picked this up intending to just read a little to see if it caught my attention and couldn’t put it down I have enjoyed all of this authors previous books and this is the best so far, The only bad thing is it won’t be released until July 28th but this should be added to your summer reading list now. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of Playing Nice!

OH MY GOD! I hated this book so much, I loved it!!! I’m sure you are asking yourself, what???? What does that even mean?? Well let me tell you... this book made me so angry at so many points that I was reading like a mad woman just to get past the HORRIBLE things that were happening, and hopefully get to the happy ending!! Pete and Maddie are happily minding their own business when Miles knocks on their door. He’s discovered that while in the NICU two years ago, Pete and Maddie’s son Theo was swapped with Miles and Lucy’s son David. At first the families try to become friends and make amicable decisions in regards to how they are going to deal with this unusual situation, until Miles starts to play dirty... and I mean dirty with a big capital D! I hated this character more than I think any other character in any book I’ve ever read. He is the worst type of person!!! I read so fast waiting to see if he was going to get what was coming to him and I won’t spoil anything by telling you if he does or not...
You’ll have to read for yourself and let me tell you, you won’t regret picking up this book!

An extremely tense tense read. I have to say this made me very edgy but I think that was because the plot was well written and the author had every intention of making the reader feel tense. Lots of twists and turns.

Playing Nice is a psychological suspense thriller by JP Delaney. Maddie and Pete, life partners find out their son is not really theirs when Miles and Lucy come forward with a DNA test. The couples’ babies were switched at birth. Now, two years later the couples try to figure out how to navigate this new territory. But instead of working out, Miles takes things way too far in more ways than one. How can Maddie and Pete keep Theo when he’s not theirs to keep?

I loved the way this book was written from Maddie and Pete’s viewpoints. Each character has a flaw so the reader isn’t sure who to trust. Without knowing who is telling the truth, it’s hard to figure out how the story will end. I loved running through all the scenarios in my head.

**please note that while there is no child abuse, there is talk of it within the story. If this is something that upsets you, please skip this one.

This was an incredible novel that drew me in and never let go. I felt emotionally invested in the characters’ lives and couldn’t stop reading.

Playing Nice is about two families whose children were switched at birth at the hospital. Once we find out the babies were swapped, the two families try to integrate and maybe try to become one big, loving family. But then things start to get a little...off. Can't say too much more than that without spoiling it for you, but I really enjoyed Playing Nice. Both families had qualities you might like, and also might find annoying. But when one of the dads becomes a bit obsessed, you'll know that things are about to get bananas. And man, do they!

There's probably real life situations where similar swaps have happened, and it's no joke. And not to make light of anyone who has experienced this IRL, but this fictionalized version is told quite well. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Playing Nice comes out 7.28.2020.

5/5 Stars

Playing Nice started from page 1 with every parent’s worst nightmare and went from there into a roller coaster of suspense. Once the reader starts, it’s going to be hard to put down, and I can’t recommend Playing Nice enough! JP Delaney proves once again that he’s a go-to author for a suspenseful, entertaining novel!

Thanks to Net Galley and Ballantine Books for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

J.P.Delaney and I didn’t always get along, in fact his first few books I found to be about as mediocre as popular thrillers get and then he went and wrote The Perfect Wife, which was freaking excellent, almost as if written by another person altogether. Which is to say, the second I found his latest on Netgalley, I made a request. Just had to find out for myself what he does next, if the quality holds up and so on. And Delaney managed to surprise me yet again by switching gears completely. Which is to say Playing Nice is actually not exactly a thriller. It has all the right elements such as split narrative and a prerequisite twist of two in the end, but otherwise it’s way more subtle than an all out thriller. It’s more of a family drama in fact, one based on an impossible and therefore intriguing proposition…what is the child you have loved and raised as your own for two years turns out to have been switched at birth with another. And what if the other family, no matter how lovely and well to do they seem initially, isn’t quite as decent as you might have hoped. What do you do when the balance shifts, when the other party isn’t being fair, when justice isn’t logical and logic isn’t just? When do you quit playing nice? That’s the main question the couple in the book is faced with. But, of course, there’s so much more going on, the situation is considerably more complex, the couples are on an infinitely different footing going in, The Lamberts are wealthy, The Rileys (not technically so, since they are not married, but close enough for reviewing purposes) are not. Each couple has a different inner dynamic, Miles Lambert is outgoing, charming, gregarious type, his wife a pretty shadow next to him…Maddie has gone through severe postpartum, but is nevertheless tougher than her partner, who as a main caretaker for the child is the milder, steadier, calming presence. In fact, not just of the couple, of the entire book. The man is the sort of decent conscientious person Miles Lamberts of this world tend to steamroll over. It isn’t just a class thing either. This is about genuine psychopathy and the clever thing about it is that it actually features more than once in different contexts. Both are pertaining to parenting, but both go a long way to contribute to the entire nature/nurture debate. So yeah, serious drama most of the way through and then a definitive turn into a thriller territory. Because psychopaths are mostly only likeable when they get their way and if they don’t…all bets are off. SO what you have is a high stakes morality play. Interesting story, makes you think, Delaney’s done some clever things with the plot, but mainly it’s just really emotionally engaging, surprisingly so for a somewhat hyperbolic soap operatic sort of concept.For me, though, it grabbed my interest enough to maintain it the uncharacteristically long time (not at all the book’s fault, just timing) it took to finish it. Loved the ending too, nicely done. Not quite as smart of a book as The Perfect Wife, but really quite good in its own right. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Playing Nice is a first class psychological thriller that will have readers rapidly turning pages. Two families, two baby boys who, were switched at birth; a proposed resolution that becomes an adrenaline rush for the reader. The author has a good grip on his characters’ inner emotions...good, bad and ugly...as he weaves his story to its startling conclusion. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Most highly recommend.