A delightful mostly PG13 romantic comedy. Stacey still lives in the small town where she grew up, doing the same thing every year including drinking as many pumpkin spice lattes as she can every fall and volunteering at the local Renaissance Faire every summer. Everything is about to change. This is basically a reboot of a classic love story, but I won't say which one, because it would spoil the fun. It was a great summer read, and even though I guessed the twist early on, the repartee kept it interesting.

My current favorite trend in romance novels is the “it's a conflict because you have to have one, but it is a real conflict that normal people might experience” and this book absolutely nails it! This second in DeLuca’s Well Met series, that 100% reads as a stand-alone (I have yet to read Well Met) , is a perfect blend of romance and millennial-style coming into one’s own.

The characters are relatable and well developed. The setting is a treat, with DeLuca’s writing meaning you can jump right into the story and be right there. The story weaves in some great romance tropes, while still feeling like you are immersed in the real world. While this will serve well as a light and cozy fall read, it explores some real feelings and issues that will resonate with anyone looking for their life’s next phase. This sweet, funny and touching romance reminds us that in some ways, we all have a lot to learn about love and getting out of our comfort zones.

This was a good continuation of an enjoyable series about the town of people who keep a small Renaissance Faire going every summer in Maryland. I have liked all of the characters and love stories so far - well paced read

This is the second book in Jen DeLuca's Well Met series,. While I enjoyed it, it wasn't my favorite of the two. It did have a lovely story about moving on and following your heart, plus a little romance along the way. Sometimes it is good to go outside your comfort level, because then life might have a surprise or two for you.

3.5 STARS

Book 1 | Well Met - 3.5 stars - review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3022870404?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

In WELL PLAYED, DeLuca brings readers back to Willow Creek, and the lovely Renaissance Faire that’s such a hit with its residents. It’s an insular story, in which the energy is VERY ‘small-town.’ We follow the bright and bubbly Stacey, who finds herself wanting… more, in life. At 27 years old, she can’t help but think: what if she could leave the small town of Willow Creek? All her friends from college are starting families, but her one true love is her cat. What if she can pursue her dream at something she’s good at, like fashion, rather than the receptionist job she has? What if…

DeLuca brings Stacey alive in her first-person POV, with an honest narrative. It was easy to empathize with her and understand her feelings. First, she feels responsible for her mother’s health, so she stays in Willow Creek rather than pursues a life elsewhere, despite having plans to work in New York after she graduated college. Next, she feels at odds with herself. While she is active on social media and goes out frequently, she doesn’t find solace or meaning behind those things. I also appreciated seeing her insecurities of being plus-sizes, as in our society we normalize ‘skinny/fit’ figures (which she doesn’t have). Overall, she just feels listless in her life. This ennui galvanizes her to send a text to her casual hook-up partner: Dex MacLean, who performs at the Faire. She’s embarrassed, since she did it while wine-drunk, but he responds back! And then… let the fun begin.

I’m not the type to enjoy reading about deception in my romance books (I don’t appreciate it in romances usually and always think communication is number one in any relationship, in general), but if you keep WELL PLAYED as a light-hearted read, it’s fun and exhilarating in this one. The pacing is interesting, as the MacLean brothers only come to Willow Creek once a year for the Faire. Otherwise, they’re traveling across the nation for their music act. Because of that, a year flies by quickly in the pages, with frequent texts and emails between Stacey and ‘Dex.’ Their conversations get deep as they become vulnerable with the other. For Stacey, it’s the sense of listlessness she feels. For ‘Dex,’ it’s the tire and monotony for being on the road with no real home to go back to.

“It had been about searching for a life of my own, which I now had. And it had been about the man behind those screens. And I knew exactly where he was.”

Stacey actually figures out early in the game who she was actually communicating with (see? Another reason why this deception worked for me) and understood why it happened. The love interest is really Soft and sweet and caring. I have a special place in my heart for Soft Men, and this love interest’s hesitancy and lack of major confidence fit that bill (especially as he gets compared to Dex so often). However, I did feel like we didn’t know him as much because when we met him, he’s already in love with Stacey - it was a bit difficult to believe since we didn’t see him actively falling in love with her. Nonetheless, he’s caring and has eyes only for her. I think a large part of this feeling has to do with a lack of POV and narrative from his side.

WELL PLAYED brings our favorite Willow Creek characters back to life! It was lovely seeing Simon and Emily (from WELL MET) again, and to see the teasing interactions between April and Mitch, who will get their book next. This series has truly been a love note to renaissance faires, and it was fun reading about them and the passion that people have for them. If you go too deep into this book, it’s easy to become dissatisfied. (For example: what happened to [love interest name’s] issues with his lifestyle and how did that get resolved? Why was Stacey’s mom telling her to “take her time” and checking up on her so often, and how did that transition to her behavior near the end? The resolution in general of the HEA was just a sloppily wrapped bow.) HOWEVER, if you keep this book light and sweet (as the vibe is), you’ll have a fun time!

Content/Trigger Warnings: parent with cancer, sexy times

Thank you Berkley and Netgalley for the review copy!

I loved last year's Well Met, so I was excited to get to read the next book in this series, which follows dental receptionist-slash-Renaissance Faire tavern wench Stacey. Having put her own plans on hold to help out her sick mother, Stacey feels stuck in the small town of Willow Creek. The Ren Faire is the one bright spot in her year, and especially her occasional hookups with shallow pretty boy Dex McLean, part of a traveling family musical act. When she messages Dex after the Faire season is over, she's surprised to get back a sweet, thoughtful reply. Thus begins almost a year of emailing and texting with Dex, as Stacey slowly falls for the kind and funny man she's come to know.

Of course, it's all a lie. (The book blurb mentions this, and the cover photo kind of gives it away with the man's hair color, so I wouldn't call it a spoiler.) She hasn't been talking to Dex at all, and now Stacey's not sure if she can trust the man she's *really* been falling in love with.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, and I really want to run away and join the Ren Faire circuit now. There's just enough conflict and drama to keep it interesting, without feeling melodramatic. And for animal lovers, Stacey has an adorable and supportive tuxedo cat named Benedick.

I was looking forward to this book after reading the author's first novel a few months ago. While I found the beginning of the book took a bit to figure out that she wasn't communicating with who she thought she was, I liked that it was resolved fairly quickly. The characters were fun and the renaissance fair setting was unique.

Couldn’t put it down. Enjoyed it as much, if not more, that Well Met.

In Well Played, Stacey has been stuck in a rut with her reasons for staying in small town Willow Creek becoming excuses. After college she had the opportunity to move to the big city and start a career, but her mom’s health crisis put those dreams on hold and now that hold has become permanent. Her friends have started careers, relationships, and families, so one night she throws caution to the wind (after too much wine) and emails her no strings summer fling Dex to see if there could possibly be more. Dex is a musician in the Dueling Kilts band that plays at the Willow Creek’s Renaissance Faire every year. She starts to receive thoughtful and earnest emails and clever texts from Dex. Does Dex have heretofore hidden depths or is someone else behind these online exchanges? As the year passes, summer comes back to Willow Creek along with Ren Faire and the return of the Dueling Kilts. Stacey is about the meet (again?) the man she has spent the year falling in love with.

As I said with Well Met, the Ren Faire lifestyle is such an original setting for a novel. Past characters make appearances with the wedding of Simon and Emily from the first book and the hint of a possible connection for Mitch in the next book entitled Well Matched. I think there is more than the surface playboy in Mitch and I think Emily’s sister, April may be the one to call him out on it.

The final email sent to Stacey in Chapter 20 was so heartfelt that I felt I was falling in love with the email writer as well.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the ARC

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

The second installment from Jen Deluca in her ren faire series does not quite hold up to the first. While the characters were all back from the previous novel, I felt that they didn't flesh out the new guy in town, Daniel McClean.

This was really cute! Well Played is the second book in the Well Met series, and our story this time focuses on fellow tavern wench Stacey and the manager of the Dueling Kilts, a music group that visits the Faire each summer. Stacey intends to send a message to her summer hookup, Dex MacLean, the guitar player for the Dueling Kilts after the Faire ends, but instead (unknowingly) begins to correspond with Daniel MacLean, the group's manager. Throughout the year, while waiting for the next summer to start, the two exchange emails and texts, and before Stacey knows it, she's halfway in love with Daniel. But when it becomes clear that Daniel has been pretending to be his cousin, can Stacey get past his lies to give their relationship a chance? This is a romance novel, so of course she can. But there's bumps on the way!
I really enjoyed this, although not as much as the first book. There's lots of cameos by Simon and Emily, which was great, and I loved that this is an epistolary novel. I did struggle with Daniel's continual lying and how he didn't fight for Stacey. The ending, Stacey has to hunt Daniel down at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, and that seemed wrong to me because Daniel should have been the one doing the grand gesture. He messed up, not Stacey.
Overall, this was a fun return to Willow Creek, and I'm excited to see April and Mitch's story in the next book.

I was so pleased when I got to read Well Met last year that finding Well Played and given an ARC of it was fantastic.
Much like the previous book, this tale circles around a small town and the renaissance faire they hold there every year. We have returning characters, Like Emily and Simon and Mitch, but this book specifically focuses on Stacy, the other tavern wench from Well Met, and newcomers Dex and Daniel MacLean.
This book was a fun read, enjoyable from start to finish. While we spent less time in the renaissance faire than in the last book, I liked the look of the Stacy's outside life. It paints a really beautiful picture. The romance was well done and beautifully executed. A slow burn with some serious flirting is just my style!

So very cute! I loved reading about Stacey and especially sweet Daniel. I love the representation of different body types in this book. Being able to relate to a character and their problems is oh so important and Stacey was very easy to step into her shoes. I can’t wait to return to the RenFair next book!

Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the eARC!


We were introduced to Stacey, one of the Faire co-organizers, in Well Met and this is her story. Stacey came back to Willow Creek to help her family and then settled into a life there after her mother's health scare. However, the life she's built is starting to chafe after seeing how all the friends around her are moving on, getting married, having families. One night, after some wine has bolstered her with a dash of bravery and a romantic filter on life, Stacey messages Dex, her Faire no-strings-attached hookup. And when he replies with more feeling than she expected, she soon finds herself falling in love with someone who keeps surprising her.

I just love this series and I will read every installment that is put out in this universe. Getting to know Stacey and reading about Willow Creek from an insider's perspective in this book felt cozy, like coming home. I also appreciated how well this book writes about the frustration, feelings of obligation, and limited opportunities that small towns and family obligations can create. I've known many people in my life who have expressed those same feelings and it made Stacey feel very real.

The romantic lead is also fire. I am so here for a ginger romantic lead and having the opportunity to read emails/texts from him for so much of the book made it feel like we actually got to know him, unlike other books where the love interest can just feel one-dimensional and like a vague collection of characteristics meant to make us swoon. My only disappointment with the lead was [ the continual walking-away and giving up easily. I don't love when books use that as a plot device and personally it's just annoying. But it did give Stacey the opportunity to decide what she wants and make some changes in her life. (hide spoiler)]

I also appreciate how forthright and decisive Stacey is. It was refreshing to read a lead character like that. However, at times it also felt like things were solved for Stacey rather than Stacey taking the lead in her own life to direct her own path. I wish that Stacey had made some of her own small changes throughout the book instead.

My only other note was I don't know about was the structure. [The first half is spent getting to know Daniel through texts and emails, but nothing really happens. It was easy to tear through but at the same time, I felt like "What is happening for Stacey? And what are we spending time on right now?". Then the book really picks up and we spend the rest at Faire with Stacey and Daniel, which ends up compressing a lot into very little time. I don't know how you'd improve that given the long-distance romance is so integral to the story, but again, I would've liked to see more for Stacey's everyday life and then perhaps it would've felt more balanced. (hide spoiler)]

I loved this book and I'm SO EXCITED for the third installment - for April & Mitch's story. The second these two characters were hanging together with Stacey at the end of Well Played, I was rooting for them. And I anticipate it might end up being my favorite match? Anyway, all to say, I can't wait for 2021!

Ugh, y'all, I'm sorry. SO SORRY.

I wanted to be able to tell you that I absolutely adored this novel and that I thought it was the perfect sequel to Well Met (which I loved!).

Unfortunately, Jen DeLuca's Well Played fell a bit short for me. Don't get me wrong: I still really enjoyed this book; it's a 3.5-star novel for me. I loved that DeLuca incorporated Emily and Simon from the first book (though some might find them a little too prominent), and the fact that this story takes place over the course of a year is Very Much My Shit™. (I love Josie Silver's books, so this should come as no surprise.) I also really related to the #growth journey that Stacey was on; both of DeLuca's books so far have been about more than just a woman finding a dude.

For me, Well Played just lacked that little extra umph factor. I've found that a catfishing trope is always going to be risky, because it blurs that line between irredeemable actions by a love interest and a bad but potentially understandable thing to do; in this case, I was just never totally sold on the romantic arc, though there were some adorable moments.

Again though, I still liked this book, enjoy Jen DeLuca's writing style, and will absolutely read Well Matched when it comes out; in fact, I'm already counting down the days.

I really enjoyed it - I kind of wish I hadn't known it was Daniel not Dex from the beginning but Stacey was still so relatable and Jen has a way of making the world very believable and fun and does such good characters! It was a real treat to read and I devoured it in a way I've been able to get into very few books since mid-March!

Another great book from Jen Deluca! I loved getting back into the faire life and all the characters we loved from Well Met. Added bonus getting to experience Emily and Simons wedding. *Swoon.* This book definitely had a different feel to it. I loved all the back and forth, the longing, it made you root for the characters even when they made mistakes. Don’t mind me, I’ll be rereading this one until Well Matched is released!

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

If you liked <i>Well Met</i>, then I think you'll like this second, charming installment.

This time we follow Stacey, in the throes of a quarter life crisis, worrying about turning 30 and living in the same small town (she's 27, truly a baby). The bright spot of her year is the town's ren faire, and one night in a fit of loneliness and wine, she messages her faire fling, a kilted ren fest musician, beginning an almost year-long series of emails and texts before the next faire.

This book was very cute - as in <i>Well Met</i>, the faire and small town settings are fun. I will say, however, that it took a looooong time for our protagonists to be in the same, well, field at the faire. If you are a person who likes a more drawn out romance, though, this will be perfect for you! I also did identify with Stacey's feelings of stuck-ness, especially during this pandemic. Overall a fun contemporary, and we get to see Emily and Simon's wedding - Yay!

I couldn’t be happier to turn back to Willow Creek for second tango for the Renaissance Fair! So when I got my ARC and after a few screams, unsuccessful handspring trials (which ended with hitting my right foot against the wall and limping like Kaiser Soze throughout the day), sipping mimosas, having the longest brunch party (me, dogs, husband who secretly empties his plate filled with my homemade Eggs Benedict into flower pots –yes, my flowers looked like famous flower at the Little Shop of Horrors after that experiment-) later, I excitedly gets it into my hands and started devouring it.

Good thing about the book is: we have another sweetest, charming, romantic, shy, a little insecure hero: Daniel Mac Lean (redhead Irish: combination of younger Damian Lewis and James McAvoy) we may easily adore. And we have also likable heroine Stacey (Anastasia is her real name but thankfully she doesn’t use that name and it didn’t ruin the book for me with FSOG vibes. Amen to that!) stuck in a town, bored with her job, watching her friends settle down, chasing their dreamy jobs and getting married as she lost her dream career about fashion by choosing her family and taking care of sick mother.

But now only good thing she likes about her life is Renaissance Fair and her hookup with Dex Mac Lean: leading singer of Dueling Kits, looking like Chris Hemsworth’s Irish version ( yes, dynamitic combination! As soon as you visualize you can’t help your hyperventilation!) But Stacey just bored to have friends with benefits relationship. She’s looking for something real. And now Simon and Emily’s engagement makes her more worried. She is happy for them but she feels lonelier, feeling like losing another friend who is about to get settled.

After facing her realties and too much drink later, she makes a brave also silly move and writes a drunk email to Dex. She wasn’t truly into him but she needs something concrete for her life, right? And surprise, surpsie: he answers back: they start to write emails, texts each other sharing their intimate secrets for 11 months and when the fair reopens Stacey realized: somebody reenacted Cyrano Bergerac game! She wasn’t writing to Dex all the time. She was connecting with his cousin Daniel.

She had her suspicions because the guy who was writing to her gentle, chivalry, sweet and friendly and he can pour his feelings into the writing. He is not an egotistical manwhore like Dex! She was falling in love to the wrong guy from the beginning. So will she give him a second chance? Could be Daniel the one?

I think I enjoyed both characters and their sweet love story: Cyrano Bergerac theme but the reality about Stacey’s hookup with Dex and her admiration about him at the beginning irritated me. Maybe I’m a little old school and this is not a real love triangle because two guys don’t fight for a girl but I still feel bad for Daniel, even though he lied to Stacey at the beginning.

The second fact that we welcomed back Emily and Simon again but as far as I see: they are so many parts about them in the story and I thought they’re not the supporting characters, they are still main characters and it seemed like a short novella about their marriage inserted into this novel which gives us less chapters about Daniel and Stacey. Till the second half of the book: Stacey still didn’t know who she was communicating with and their relationship parts evolved so fast. I wish we may spend more time with them.

Overall: I still enjoyed the writing, the entertaining Renaissance theme, soft, sweet romance but I didn’t enjoy this second installment as much as I liked the first one. I went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars and I finally decided 3.5 stars and rounded them up to 4 because of lovely, mud pie hero!

A kind request to the author; I’m begging you dear Jen DeLuca, please give us Mitch’s book! Thanks a lot!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this sweet, entertaining ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

I LOVED returning to the Willow Creek Ren Faire with Jen DeLuca’s amazing characters. Reading Well Met was one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I’ve ever had, so when I revived the e-ARC for Well Played (thank you, Berkley Romance & NetGalley), I immediately dove in and read it in a day.

Well Played is the story of Stacey (Emily & Simon’s friend in Well Met) and a man she’s rapidly falling in love with...he just may not be the man she thinks he is. This story was so fun and sweet and I loved seeing more of Emily & Simon. I can’t wait to read what JenDeLuca writes next!