Such a cute quick read! Lots of cross over with Well Met and loved being back at the ren fair! Stacey felt real and her conflicts were clear and Daniel was precious!

This book started at 2 stars and ended on 4. Stacey was a very hard to relate character. She felt like she was born from the land of tropes and never really progressed. Feeling stuck, clock ticking (in late 20s, yuck), afraid, sick parent, lost sense of self, jealousy of friends romantic entanglements but yearning for a VERY clear hook up only from a year ago.

What's weirdest is this "no one wants to see serious/ sad me" mentality. I don't know if it's meant to be author's commentary on social media or mental health or what.

These all go from character traits to background noise, and it's hard to love, connect with, and root for Stacey.

I really really loved WELL MET and the sequel is just as good (maybe even better!). Stacey is just such an earnest and vulnerable character figuring out her life, and her struggles feel relatable. Her and Daniel are just the sweetest, and the ending is perfection. I can't wait for April and Mitch's book next!

I loved the idea behind this story but I had difficulty bonding with the main character and I think mostly due to a personality clash than poor writing. I couldn't stand that she sat in her car idling with the air conditioning on and I couldn't fathom why she was so concerned about slipping on some wet stairs in her heels when she could just go barefoot! Argh! One good steamy scene but otherwise I didn't get excited about the romance, felt pretty sappy and not much humour in it.

Stacey has been involved in the Renaissance Faire for years with her best friend Emily as tavern wenches. They are familiar with most of the acts, one of which is the Dueling Kilts, a trio of handsome brothers, the MacLeans who played Irish music. Stacey has hooked up with Dex, the guitar player of the group. After the Faire had closed Stacey met with her friends at a bar and found out Emily was engaged to be married the next year at the Faire. It was time for Stacey to "get a life." After much wine, she sent a text to Dex wanting to know more about him. This started a routine of shared texts and Stacey found she was falling for this person.

The behind the scenes activities of the Faire are fascinating. I felt as though I were experiencing the activities. A totally enjoyable read.

Despite my struggle with Daniel's deception throughout the first half of this book, I did enjoy it. I liked Stacey and getting to see all the characters from Well Met again. Overall, a sweet and fun story!

2.5 stars rounding down…

‘Well-Played’, just like its predecessor, goes with the idea of love found at a Renaissance Faire, even if it involves a woman, two cousins as different as night and day and a few years of lust, lies and re-discovery.

What I really remember of Jen DeLuca is her very accessible, very breezy writing that makes the book so easy to go through and ‘Well-Played’, written in the first-person and exclusively through Stacey’s POV is pretty much that: the same intimate look at a woman’s life journey forward after life has seemingly stalled.

DeLuca takes a risk here with a trope that admittedly is always cringey for me. I was uncomfortable with the direction that it took for the first half, with epistolary deception playing a huge role in driving the story onwards and continuing for a year before the waters started to get muddy. More ominously, the more appropriate and updated term is better known now as ‘catfishing’, when someone assumes the identity of another person for fraudulent purposes—ironically so as well because it’s often associated with online romance scams.

DeLuca does soften the blow nonetheless, by making it easier to sympathise with Daniel who’s never had that fighting chance of romance next to his showy and muscular cousins, who’s never been and likely will never be in the limelight. As the one who’s resigned to his backstage life as band manager, Daniel is the beta all-round nice guy who has made a (huge) mistake and now finds himself at the losing end. He did however, come across as bland and somewhat unmemorable, balanced out by a kind heart of gold that simply wanted the best for Stacey.

There’s also a bit of an ick-factor as Stacey moved on from Dex MacLean to Daniel MacLean: one cousin she’d hooked up with, while the one she falls in love—both of whom work closely together. It’s not my cup of tea personally; in fact, I do sort of detest this ‘Cyrano de Begerac’ sort of reference when taken to this extent, and that proved yet another downer for me.

So while I loved ‘Well-Met’, I’m mixed about this and actually thought that Simon and Emily—who do turn up here quite a bit—were actually the saving grace of ‘Well-Played’. The continuation of their story, the development of their relationship, no matter how indirectly written here, made Stacey and Daniel pale in comparison and it was for them that I finished the book.

**Review will post September 17th, to my sites!**

SO SWEET.

I am all over this series by Jen DeLuca. They’re adorable and easy to enjoy and get a few smiles out of me.

In differentiating from Well Met, this book follows Stacey as she goes through a lot of big life decisions. Some cards were handed to her unplanned and now she’s found herself stuck in a slump, wondering what to do next. I struggled with the way Stacey talked about herself at times. I liked that she had a good evolution over the book about finding her way. Learning to take those leaps of faith and following something you know you love.

Okay, Daniel? TOTES ADORBS. I mean, from the get go. Absolutely loved him. So flippin’ cute. He warmed my heart 100x over and was such a match for Stacey. I liked the way the initial conflict (trying to avoid spoilers) happened between them. The communication and understanding that went into seeing both sides of the story really set me up for loving this ship. And this was a continual theme that helped

Another magical setting at a Ren Fest and I am once again wishing I could go to one this year! I love the writing and magic I feel between everyone. Getting to see Simon and Emily again was also absolutely amazing. I did like Well Met more, ONLY because it had more of an enemies to lovers vibe (which is my favorite trope ever). This is more friends to lovers and I found it very sweet watching Daniel and Stacey fall in love.

And low-key, STOKED for the next book in this series and the fact it’s about Mitch and April.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary romance
Language: a little (strong when used)
Romance: kisses / make-outs; a full chapter open door scene

If you’ve read and liked Well Met, you’ll like this one, too. I struggled with the Faire aspect, and I found myself forcing myself to finish it. It’s a good story, but I just wasn’t engaged.

I absolutely loved Well Met, so I was extremely excited for the follow-up, Well Played. Well Played was a fun book. I enjoyed it, and I probably will pick up the next book set at the Ren Faire. I'm not dying for another book in this world, though. This book has a lot of the fun in Well Met, but the pacing feels off. This is partly chronologically, with a lot of time passing very quickly at first and then a lot more slowly later in the novel. This is partly due to the 'mechanics' of the book, I'd say, where the bulk of the world works around the Ren Faire. Still, at one point, it definitely went from like August to the end of fall in a chapter, so a bit too sporadically paced. I also found a major plot point a bit irritating, but I don't know that I can criticize it without disclosing spoilers, so, I guess I'll keep that to myself.

This was...not as good as I had hoped it would be. A friend and fellow reader said this book toed the line a la Cyrano when it came to the protagonist's love interest. My opinion is that the line is so far gone that we can't even see it. I was seriously annoyed at how the arc of this story went and sew-sawed between being low-key irritated at Stacey and pitying her. I thought she was a sympathetic character, but not one that I could connect with at all. There was also a lack of chemistry between her and her LI. He effed up quite badly and we don't even get a grovelling /redemption scene. I am not a fan of yours, Daniel MacLean. Not sorry at all.

And there wasn't much Faire in this! Part of what made the first so charming was the description and the atmosphere of the Faire. Maybe the next book can spark some of the magic back?

I loved Well Met, the first book in this series but I was wary of Well Played at first because I didn't really care for the character of Stacey and wasn't sure I would like her as the main character. My worries were misplaced and I ended up loving this book, maybe even more than the first. Stacey is given so much more relatebility and depth in this book and I love her dedication and love of the Ren faire life. It was fantastic to watch Stacey slowly fall in love through a series of emails and texts over the course of a year and not just have some insta love fling. It was also a great coming of age story for adults where Stacey slowly learns what she wants to do with her life and how to find her own happiness. This book was fantastic.

Well Played by Jen Deluca

4 / 5

** Thank you to Netgalley, Berkeley Publishing, and of course, Jen Deluca, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I DEVOURED WELL MET! I also recommend it to so many people if they want something cute and fun to read, So when I saw that Jen was coming out with Well Played in September based on Stacy, I KNEW I had to get it in my hands as soon as possible.

The Stacy that I understood in Well Met was not the Stacy I came to love in Well Played. I was so pleasantly surprised to see the character development of Stacy take a turn I did not expect after following her around in Met.

What I expected - the stereotypical former cheerleader who never left home. Beautiful and Homely, and the unorganized girl we met when Emily signed up for the Faire.

What I got - SO MUCH MORE! Stacy’s Character arc broke the first expectation I had from the prologue and first chapter.

Now, Let’s get to Daniel. Daniel is the epitome of what I wanted for Stacy. I did figure out the twist pretty quickly but was still so excited and shocked when it came to light. As a fan of Simon, it is pretty obvious to know my type as a stan for Daniel ;). Plus, Dex annoyed me so so much I hated how much power he held over Stacy. Everything about Daniel was great - Jen did a great job of showing his pros and cons as a human being, as she did with Stacy as well.

Returning to the Faire was also an easy thing for me. I absolutely loved the setting and how it continues to intertwine in Deluca’s books.

Now, Jen, WHEN ARE WE GETTING WELL MATCHED?!?!?! (Gotta love that foreshadowing in the final few chapters ;)! )

This is a cute series. Both titles so far have been about finding love while volunteering or working at a local RenFest. Both have meet cute setups and were light, satisfying reads.

I was so excited for another installment in the RenFaire world with Stacey, Emily's bff, being the main character. I enjoyed seeing more of the world the characters live in outside of the RenFaire and loved that there was a cat. I didn't care for the story spanning a whole year where weeks were brushed over - it didn't lessen the story any but it was strange. I mainly knocked a star because I greatly dislike the "fight for me" trope. Fight for yourself, girl. If you say you're done, don't expect a man to come back crawling on his knees begging to be with you. Fight for him if you want to be with him.

Well Played by Jen DeLuca shares the worst bits of story with the movie Sierra Burgess - a knowing and calculated prolonged catflish performed by a character who is not redeemed before getting exactly what they wanted. Stacey decides to get her life "on track" after a jolt caused by the engagement of her friends - her first step is drunkenly facebook messaging her regularly scheduled Ren Faire hookup to see if it can progress to anything more.
The story proceeds over the course of year with the two messaging via facebook, email, and eventually text messaging - hilariously (especially in our current world where zoom activities are so ubiquitous) the two never video or phone chat and Stacey never presses for or questions why their relationship is exclusively text based in all that time. So much of the book is given over to being a distance relationship, that I was (rightly) worried about the arc of the in person portion of the relationship.
Separately from the relationship itself - the conclusion is nonsensical. The characters both often discuss feeling stagnant and frustrated with the trajectory of their lives, and then they settle on continuing down his stagnant path rather than forging a new one. Had they grown emotionally and made the changes they said they wanted to, I would've though higher of the book as a whole, but it was one final disappointment after a litany of others.
I like Jen Deluca's writing style, but she deserved better than playing out this specific romance trope.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc for review. This in no way influenced my opinion.

I had pretty high hopes for this one since I really enjoyed DeLuca’s first, Well Met. While Well Played was enjoyable, I didn’t love it as much.

Daniel had a sweet personality and was a character I could root for. I think he may be classified as a cinnamon roll hero? He was such a sweet guy and you could tell he just really liked Stacey so much, exactly as she was. I really liked the character arc Stacey went through. Her development was really solid and I particularly liked how it explored her making new friends and developing her friendships more.

**POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD**

What I didn’t really get was the chemistry between Stacey and Daniel. In the first half of the book they only communicated via email and text, plus combined with the whole catfishing premise, I didn’t feel a lot of chemistry between the two of them. This is the first time I’ve read a book where one of the main characters is essentially catfishing the other, and it just was not for me. I think if Stacey had realized and expressed early on that she didn’t think it was Dex she was talking to, or if Daniel didn’t know she thought he was Dex, I’d feel differently about the whole situation. But that’s not how it was, so it just felt kind of icky to me. And then when Stacey found out, yes she was angry, but she sort of says she knew deep down it was Daniel all along. But, how? She hardly talked about him that first half. I needed more of him at the beginning of the book, more of their friendly acquaintance to believe that she had this inkling. He wasn’t really ever mentioned in the first 50% of the book except for 1 time maybe.

Also, how did they never talk about how Stacey slept with Dex a ton?! I feel like there should’ve been at least one conversation about how they both felt about that. Even if it was a non-issue for both. It’s pretty similar to your crush sleeping with a sibling, considering how close Dex and Daniel are as cousins. So the fact that there wasn’t one single convo, was weird to me.

So, yea. There were bits and pieces I enjoyed. And I can see why others would enjoy it too. I do really like DeLuca’s writing, I just had issues with this particular setup. I am excited about the third book and will definitely be reading it.

As always, just because a book wasn’t right for me, doesn’t mean it won’t be right for you. Check out some other reviews, as I've had some friends really enjoy it!

5 Stars
Jen Deluca has done it again!

Stacey has been living in Willow Creek all her life. Watching her friends getting married, having babies and moving away, Stacey second-guesses her choices, could she still make her dreams come true? That dragonfly necklace she bought at the end of Faire last year meant change. Could she make the relevant changes? Starting with her love life? On a drunken night, Stacey reminisces back to the fling she had over the last few summers, Dex MacLean ( the hunky Hemsworth kilt-wearing band member of the Dueling Kilts). After sending him a drunken email, Stacey believes he would never hear from him. However, when she receives an email back from none other than Dex MacLean stating he feels the same. Stacey can't believe it. It is too much to be true. You know the saying though, if it is too good to be true, it probably isn't. Is this really Dex at the other end of the emails?

I loved this book! After a whirlwind, online romance, Stacey really opens up to the man she believes to be Dex. They are the sweetest couple. Stacey begins to get her "Stacey smile" back while "Dex" helps her through her situations at home, including her mother's illness and putting her life on hold. He becomes the best friend and shoulder to lean on, she never realized she needed. When she discovers Dex isn't who he says he is (no spoilers here) Stacey's feelings are too strong to ignore. Their online romance transfers into real life perfectly.

I loved ? (still no spoilers here). He is so sweet and has such a vulnerable quality to him, I couldn't help but love him! I genuinely thought I couldn't love a character more than Simon. Well, there might be a little competition now haha! The way the storyline progressed I couldn't really predict what was going to happen next between them. It was gripping and I was genuinely smiling to myself while reading this book!

This book is very well researched. Jen Deluca knows a lot of the renaissance and the cultures. I loved the balance between new and old. It was incredible. Jen DeLuca is the rom-com renaissance queen!! I have to add I was humming "drunken sailor" and the next thing I knew my family was singing away for the evening. It was like my personal pub sing at home.

It was great to see Emily and Simon again, even though it wasn't their story. They had a massive part to play in this book and I loved how they fitted into this storyline perfectly. Within book one, this book was set up, therefore the small references back to book number one "well met" were perfect. It showed that a lot of thought went into this series. In saying that, the third book has also been set and I can't wait! Squeal!!

Overall the pace was perfect, the characters were lovable and captivating. I genuinely can't find one fault in the entire book (maybe the fact it ended, but we have book 3 to look forward to, so I can't even fault it there haha!)

Overall I highly HIGHLY!! recommend it! If you have to buy one book in 2020, this is it!!

Thank you @Berkleyromance and @netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Is another hit for this is author!
I hope that more are coming. Even if your not a fan of renaissance fairs.... if you are a fan of love and people figuring life out and not being perfect or just all-around feel good rom-coms , you'll like this.

I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review. When I requested this title I didn't realize it was part of a series. I haven't read the first book (yet), but I can definitely say this one stands well on it's own. I can also say that it is absolutely delightful. Great characters and interesting plot. I love the RenFaire background! Stacey is completely likable.

One of the great things about this book is that it really bridges a gap between chick lit and romance. Take out a couple of the racy scenes and this would be totally chick lit. Yet there's more traditional romance elements to it as well. I could see recommending this book to both types of readers.

And it looks like there is going to be a third book. Huzzah!