#2 in the Well Met series. This entry is just as much fun as the first! For Renaissance Faire enthusiasts it is a welcome walk back through the most wonderful time of the year. Stacey looks forward the the four weeks of the Willow Creek Faire every year but as the Faire approaches this year Stacey feels stuck and less excited than she has been about donning her tavern wench costume. In an attempt to cheer herself up during the off season, she emails, Dex, MacLean, of the Dueling Kilts, her no strings attached fling from the Faire. Before she realizes it, their emails are getting deeper and more serious. With the new season of the Faire beginning, Stacey finds out that the man she has been trading secrets with and falling in love with isn't who she thought he was. The development of the relationship between Stacey and Dex (online Dex) is sweet and very romantic. The big reveal when she finds out that she has really been corresponding with Daniel, Dex's cousin and the band's manager was well done. Can Stacey forgive Daniel for his deception? Fans of the first book will raise their glasses to a happy Huzzah! as all their favorite characters are back in full force.

Well Met was such a wonderful hit and such a great read, and Well Played followed through with that trend just fine. The concept of being fooled into thinking you're falling for another person is a trope that's not unseen before, but this book plays it all out in a funny and interesting way. The main character shows her vulnerability but she's funny and strong. It's a very cute read and such an ease to enjoy that it is hard to put down.

3.5/5 stars

Stacey is in a rut. She's lived in the garage apartment at her parents' ever since she had to turn down an NYC fashion job to care for her mom after a debilitating heart attack, she works as the ever-exciting receptionist at a local dentist office, she is an old hat at the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire, and her bestie is her cat. But when she sends a Facebook message to her Rennie with Benefits Dex, it has a butterfly effect, and her life will change drastically. In the 12 months before Dex returns to the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire, he and Stacey develop quite the pen pal relationship. But lies abound, and the likelihood that Stacey will get hurt is high. Can she take control of her life and find true love without leaving her heart in pieces?

The build-up to D and Stacey's relationship is really unique in Well Played. It's not a slow burn, despite your romance expectations. Instead, it's more open and authentic that simmering sexual tension. This was a nice change from the typical romance, but it does make the first 60% of the story drag a bit. And Stacey really feels sorry for herself at the beginning almost to the point where it's a Holden Caulfield situation, and I wanted to give up. But when D returns to Willow Creek, it picks up and DeLuca delivers.

And if I were a betting woman, I'd place all my money that the third in this series will be between April and Mitch....

I was so nervous this one wouldn't be as good as the first but I was BLOWN out of the water. I LOVE Stacey's story and her struggle to move on after a family emergency. There is so much heart in this book a little sliver of it will always live with me!

This was such a beautiful story!! It really represents modern-day relationships. Social media can really fool people, and this book does a good job showcasing that. I also love how the book describes true love as loving the personality and the inside of a person; not the outside. Also, the right amount of humor was included. REALLY LOVED THIS BOOK!

First of all, Well Met was one of my favorite reads last year! I enjoyed it so so much. There's no question that the author is a superbly talented writer!

I had a little more difficulty getting into this one. There were several pages that mostly revolved around the main character's friends and discussion of events that happened in the first book - to the point where I was just skimming pages waiting for the main story to take place. It seemed like it could have gotten there much, much faster.

Either way, it's an enjoyable read, though I much prefer the first!

I was so pleasantly surprised by "Well Met" that I was excited to get my hands on its sequel. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed. The two main characters lacked chemistry and their relationship any real direction. The first half of the book is largely made up of email and texts conversations that did not reflect much emotional maturity and read more like something I would expect from a middle grade or YA novel. The backdrop of the Renaissance Fair isn't as pronounced here. I found myself quite bored, and uninterested in this story.

Oh my goddddd

Okay so I obviously loved Well Met with all my heart and it was always going to be hard to follow. This book was AMAZING though and the back half really really got me good :) (I’m clearly a sucker for the renn). Stacey is hilarious and love able and deeply relate-able as I come across similar struggles. At first I was confused on how it would shake out, with the whole mistaken ID thing but honestly, it was all good.
I’d even recommend if you haven’t read well met but also, go read well met!
Loved it. Love Jen. Already need the next one (Mitch+Amy forever? Please?)
And god bless a kilted man.

I completely devoured Well Met, and absolutely freaked out when I saw the cover of Well Played. I barely even read the summary before requesting it, and waited patiently for my approval. I think I finished it within 24 hours of the approval (stupid work getting in the way!), and I had that same feeling of finishing it too fast, but not wanting to put it down while reading as I did with Well Met. Jen DeLuca, you have such a way of writing that truly makes me happy.
I fell in love with Emily and Simon in Well Met, and didn't think I would have that same feeling as I would for Stacey, but guess what? I totally did! Stacey is such a well-rounded character, and you immediately feel for her and her situation. When she gets that message from Dex, I truly stayed up way too late wanting to see what happened next.
This was a fantastic book, and I truly CANNOT wait for anything else from Jen DeLuca!

This was a book I really enjoyed. The author gave the main character a good backstory and I completely got why she wanted to both stay home and leave. While the “twist” was pretty obvious I still enjoyed it.

In this follow-up to Well Met, we follow 27 year-old Stacey. Stacey lives for summer when she can turn into Beatrice at the local Ren Faire. The rest of the year she pretends to be happy in her day-to-day life but it’s becoming clear that something is missing from her life. A budding virtual romance with a former fling may turn things around.the only problem is that her new love interest isn’t who he says he is.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get over the Catfish part of this story. I was pleasantly surprised that I could. Well Played is a light Rom-Com but it doesn’t quite live up to the first book. For me the characters weren’t as easy to connect to but still enjoyable.

I somehow missed the earlier book in this series but was delighted to find this one every bit as geeky, funny, and romantic as I’d hoped. Wholly original and a pleasure to read.

This really was closer to 3.5 stars, but I rounded down because I just wasn't as taken with this sequel as I was with the DeLuca's first book. I was excited to follow Stacey, and I was excited to be back at Faire, but I was less than impressed with that MacLean boy. While I was rooting for them, I just couldn't shake the feeling that as a leading man he was a little... off. I wasn't taken in by their chemistry. Stacey deserved someone to fight for her, gosh darn it! Plus, there's a thin line between reinventing Cyrano and straight-up lying, and I feel like this plot danced on the wrong side of that line. I do appreciate that DeLuca did well with character continuity. I hate when my favorite characters in the initial book are unrecognizable in the second book, and I didn't feel that way at all. I would certainly recommend Well Met, and if you're looking to revisit Willow Creek, Well Played is a good option. However, I do not feel that it stands well on its own.

...all that being said, if Mitch and/or April find themselves as the main characters in the next novel, I am HERE FOR IT.

Oh my goodness! I don’t even have the words! Well Met is my favorite romance of all time, and so I’ve been dying to read Well Played! Especially because I loved Stacey in Well Met, and so I was so excited to get to delve deeper into her mind and her story! As a plus size woman, I always love it when the heroine in my romance novel is plus sized, there’s definitely not enough plus size representation in novels, and particularly in romance. So right off the bat I was loving it. Stacey was such an easy character to relate to, and watching her grow as a character throughout the novel was so wonderful. And I really loved the way the relationship developed as well! I just enjoyed it non stop, and now I cannot wait for Mitch’s story in Well Matched! Thank you so much to Jen for giving me and eARC, I completely and totally loved it!!

This was another fun read by Jen DeLuca. I read Well Met earlier this year and when I received this ARC I immediately started reading and ended up finishing it in one. Those sleepless hours were lost but not regreted. I love that this story tied in with the characters of Well Met and focused on Emily's friend Stacy (Anastasia). I laughed out loud many times trying not to wake my husband sleeping next me. It was such a cute and fast paced read!

Another trip to the Ren Faire with another sweet romance is the perfect way to spend the day! Jen DeLuca’s Well Played, a highly anticipated sequel to Well Met, does not disappoint in the slightest!

Upon hearing of Simon and Emily’s engagement, best friend Stacey is jolted into reevaluating her own life and her lack of “going anywhere.” Feeling spontaneous, and maaaaybe a little drunk, Stacey decides to reach out via social media to her old Ren Faire flame, Dex. But what Stacey doesn’t know is that who she really gets on the other line in Daniel, Dex’s complete polar opposite of a cousin. When their friendly messages turn into something more, Stacey is faced with a huge surprise upon learning of the identity of her online paramour.

I loved this novel! Well Met was one of my favorite books of 2019, so Well Played was a highly anticipated 2020 release for me. Stacey and Daniel are both so sweet and I loved the epistolary format of their relationship in its beginning stages. Of course, I was yelling at my Kindle for Daniel to come clean much earlier that he did, (like maybe right in the beginning, when Stacey first mistook him for Dex) but I appreciated that it didn’t take until the end of the novel for Stacey to find out. It basically says in the plot summary that when Faire returns to Willow Creek and Daniel along with it, Stacey comes face to face with who she’s really been talking to and I like that that occurred at the half way point and Daniel was able to explain himself and the two were able to communicate about it effectively. They were very cute together and I was rooting for the happy ending throughout reading.

I also loved getting to experience the atmosphere of the Ren Faire once again, and of course the addition of more Simon and Emily, as well as Mitch and all the other great supporting characters from Well Met. The Willow Creek universe is always just so fun to visit!

Well Played is such a great sequel/companion novel, and I will now be counting down the days until Mitch’s book next year!

*Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. *

This was a pretty good story. I really liked the setting, it was fun that it was at a Renaissance Fair. I don't think I've seen that very much in any book. I do enjoy going to the Ren Fair in my local area, but they are usually just one weekend things, so it was interesting to see one that was four weeks long. I didn't really care for the hero. I don't think his grovel was good enough. I'm glad that he didn't keep bugging her about their problems. But she was then made to be the one to continually forgive and reach out. However, I love books where they connect over letters. It's not quite an epistolary story, since the whole book isn't in letters, but quite a bit of their romance is over letters, which I adore.

Every bit as sweet and charming as the first. A recommended purchase for collections where contemporary romances are popular.

Just as charming and delightful as Well Met, if not more so. DeLuca has found a remarkable romantic lead in Stacy, whose awkwardness, insecurity, and relatability have you rooting for her the whole time. This story also brings a new self-awareness and levity to the Cyrano trope in the best possible way. Highly recommended for fans of Talia Hibbert, Kerry Winfrey, and Evie Dunmore.

This book unfortunately was not as good as the first for me however I still very much enjoyed it and will read her again :)