3.75-Rounded up

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Miriam finds out after she impulse buys a ticket that wins big. One problem, her estranged husband has the ability to take half. Will they they be able to work it out or is this relationship a dud.

I will say that this book did something great. I was very anti- Leo for a good chunk of the book, but he did win me over in the end. The story gave me some "Sweet Home Alabama" vibes which I generally enjoyed. I think my biggest retractor was the lottery part of it. Their lives don't seem to change too much. There was a lack of believability in them not spending the money to solve some problems.

I did really enjoy Miriam though. She is smart and pragmatic. I enjoyed coming back to the town from the first book.

This book is a solid read. It's engaging and shows another side to the "Lottery" style story.

⭐️ ARC Review ⭐️

Play to Win
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love a good second-chance romance and this one did not disappoint! Miri and Leo were childhood friends-to-lovers who got married at 18 and became estranged after a few years. An unexpected windfall has Miri reaching out to Leo to finally resolve their unfinished business, and provides Leo with the kick he needs to recognize and correct his mistakes.

Personally, I loved that their marriage struggled. As someone who eloped with my best friend at 18 I can appreciate the honesty in this story that, no matter how much love is there, a successful relationship takes work.

What I loved in this book:
✔️ Second-chance romance
✔️ Childhood friends-to-lovers
✔️ Small town setting
✔️ LGBTQ+ representation


💚 Mental Health Awareness Month 💚

There is some straightforward and honest conversation about the benefits of therapy and the reasons people have to avoid it sometimes.

Thank you to Netgally, St. Martin’s Press, and Jodie Slaughter for a chance to read this charming and thought-provoking second-chance romance

📖 I received a gifted e-book copy in exchange for an honest review

Dates Read: 05/07/2023- 05/1111/2023
Goodreads review posted: 05/11/2023
Instagram review posted: 05/11/2023

This is a fun read! Miri plays the lottery on a whim and wins a huge sum. The only problem when figuring everything out? She’s still married even though her husband, Leo, walked out on her a decade ago! He has every right to ask for some of the money. Miri reaches out to Leo and tells him what happened, offering a lump sum in exchange for a divorce. Leo agrees but asks that instead of the lump sum, she instead is there for the renovation of his aunt’s house, the major project he would put the money towards, and just pays for that. Leo meanwhile has every intention of making Miri fall back in love with him (not knowing she never stopped) to win her back.

Miri and Leo got married when they were young and naive. When the going got tough and Leo felt he couldn’t live up to the gender roles of what he thought a good husband was, he ran out without much more than a goodbye. Miri understandably is hurt from this. But the two were childhood best friends and are real adults now and reconnect easily, working through their past hurts maturely. This is a slow paced read but once the steamy scenes pick up they keep going.

This is just a maybe for me because I think Leo messed up BIG TIME all those years ago, and whole Miri makes him work for it, I just am not sure how he left is forgivable. But I loved both these characters. LGBTQIA+ rep because Miri is bi and this is such an important part of her identity! I think there’s also an argument to be made that Leo is demisexual.

This was a really cute second chance romance. I don’t see a lot of books about winning the lottery or about already married couples so the combination of the two was something I’ve never seen before.
I felt that the majority of the book, at least the first bit of it, was more about how Miri’s lottery winnings were spent more than the romance. But when we got to the romance, it was really good.
I really loved how Miri’s first instinct was to help out others with her lottery money, other than herself. It’s really a small thing, but that’s not most people’s instinct and I really appreciated seeing it.
Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Griffin for an eARC of this book.

Miriam feels that she is stuck in life years after her husband, Leo, left her. She is living with her mother, doing nails for a living, and when she runs errands for her mom, she stops at the corner store and buys a Mega Ticket. When she wins, she has no idea who to do and expects all her problems to be fixed now that she has money. She has to reach out to her ex-husband who she is actually not divorced from to see if he is going to try to claim part of her earnings. They have not seen each other in 8 years so obviously him coming to Greenbelt caused lots of old feelings to come to the surface and he is not going to make it so easy on Miriam.

I read Jodie's book Bet on It which features some characters for this book but I believe they can be read as a standalone. The sexual tension between Miriam and Leo was literally sparking from the first time they were together in the book. It was such a fun read and I loved seeing a glimpse at the characters from Bet on It. I also liked how instead of Leo trying to take advantage of Miriam's winnings, he wants to take care of the people in his life more so than himself. Him remodeling the house with Miriam in mind was super sweet because he was determined to get her back. Jodie did great and I think her writing reminds me of Jasmine Guillory who I am a big fan of!

I thought I enjoyed her debut Bet on It! But Slaughter’s newest book was pretty amazing.

Play to Win by Jodie Slaughter was a fun, smart, heartfelt romcom.
I thought her writing was engaging and she kept me completely invested the entire time I had my nose stuck in this book.
The characters are well-developed, and readers will find themselves rooting for Miriam and Leo. The chemistry between these is sizzling. Absolutely loved it.
Her writing is fun, and fresh, and I fell in love with this story and its characters right away. 
A charming romantic novel that will leave readers feeling happy and giddy.
A fun and beautiful add to the romance genre.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

ARC Review✨️

Play To Win by Jodie Slaughter

If you are looking for a cute summery rom com, then look no further. Jodie Slaughter is back at it again with this story.

Miri was going through the motions of life, with a low paying job, living in her mom's house, and just barely making it through life. And don't forget she has an estranged husband who she hasn't seen or heard from in eight years.

But all of her luck changes when she wins the Mega Millions Lottery from a ticket she bought on a whim.

Leo, who hadn't heard from her since he left eight years ago, gets a call from Miri asking, no begging, him to come back. He comes running, just to find she won the lottery and wants a divorce.

But winning the lottery isn't everything Miri expects and neither is Leo anymore.
Second chance romance? Yes ma'am! 💛

I absolutely loved the premise of this story between winning the lottery and a second chance romance. It's kept me along for the ride for sure. My biggest complaint is the third person POV. It's just not for me. But, regardless, the story is cute, spicy, and heartfelt. 3.5 ⭐️

loved this romance and finding oneself and the how the couple worked out their problems . loved all of the side characters and the friendships. Good book.

Such a well written story. I enjoyed the idea that even with becoming instantly wealthy that all of Miriam’s problems and challenging feeling don’t just disappear when money arrives. The work that Miri and her Leo do to figure out love, life and the possibility of forgiveness is just completely entrancing. I loved this book a lot, while it was an excellent second book in a series, it was also a very real and very different way to the travel to the ending.

Sadly, I did not love this romance. The main couple have intense feelings for each other, even after 8 years of estrangement and the lottery win brings them back together to hash those feelings out, but I just wasn't super invested in the process of watching them get to their reconciliation.

What a fun story. Jodie Slaughter writes some of the best spice and humor. I really liked this story and these characters were everything!!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fun summer read - a hot spicy romance SWOON perfect for those hot summer days. A great read from this author!

DNF @ 28% I really liked the first book in the series, but this one just really didn't resonate with me. I think it's because I find the MMC so unlikeable I simply don't want to see him redeemed. MMC leaves his childhood sweetheart and wife of many years on a whim with no notice, no conversation, and essentially just ghosts her. Reading his internal monologue and seeing how into her he still is just makes me scratch my head...there is absolutely no good reason why you would hurt someone you love so deeply. Also having the lottery win be the catalyst for their reunion seems like a bad reason to bring two people back into each other's lives....

I've never read Jodie Slaughter books but I found this one to be humours with a lot romance. I highly recommend this one if you are looking to read about second chances.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read/review this book.
This book will be published July 11, 2023

a cute, light, quick second-chance read. the plot really pulled me in and I enjoyed it. thank you netgalley for the arc!

Play to Win was my first Jodie Slaughter book and I loved it! Miriam Butler was a character that I could friend in real life.

I loved how LGBTQ+ relationships were front in center in this book and NORMALIZED. That was refreshing to read about without all of the guilt and shame attached. It was crazy to me how Miriam wins the lottery but there is a catch. I have fantasized about what I would do if I came into a large windfall.
This money is a blessing but also a curse. Miriam is married and hasn't seen her husband Leo in 8 years! I was ready to HATE Leo immediately and I did for a few pages but once we got his story, I melted. If you want hot sex scenes this is your book! Jodie Slaughter has earned a new fan.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I thought the premise was really interesting, I don’t think I’ve read a romance about winning the lottery before. I was pulled in by the characters and the proposition to finally get the divorce papers signed. I lost interest because I felt like there were so many ups and downs for the characters individually and as a couple. Despite this, I stuck it out and thought the end was cute. There might have been too much time between when they originally separated and when Leo came back, especially with them being married. I didn’t have that hope for them to rekindle that the audience is supposed to have in a second chance romance.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy. This was a book about winning big, and seeing what you had lost. That money doesn’t compare to the ones you love.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.
I think this small town romance came to me at just the right time. I’ve been in a reading slump, so this fun story was the perfect thing to break it! I loved the fact that Play to Win is in the same world as Bet On It, and the fact that we got to see characters from that book as well. One of my favorite parts of this book was how absolutely devoted to Miri that Leo was! Overall, I would recommend this book and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!

A lottery winner gets a new start and a second change at love in Play to Win! Jodie did not disappoint in her second novel, and this was so swoony and amazing. Another five star read from this author!