Miriam Butler’s life changes and becomes unexpectedly complicated when she wins the Mega Millions Lottery Jackpot in Jodie Slaughter’s second chance romance Play to Win. Slaughter’s language use and narrative style, vivid and detailed description, colorful and natural-sounding dialogue, and deft worldbuilding drew me in from the first scene, keeping me glued to Play to Win until the very last page. Her characters are relatable, likable, complex, and authentic, and she skillfully develops them and her original story through funny, sweet, emotional, and entertaining interactions and scenes.

Living with her mom in her childhood home and working the same low-wage job since her teens, Miriam feels trapped. When she goes to the corner store to get her mom’s lottery ticket, Miriam impulsively buys one for herself and hits the winning numbers. It’s too bad her estranged husband can show up to claim his share of her millions after all this time. Leo Vaughn hasn’t spoken to his wife in years. But when Miriam calls suddenly, asking him to return to Greenbelt, he does so immediately. He’s astonished that Miriam’s won the lottery but even more so by her offering him millions to sign divorce papers, walk away, and never contact her again. The last thing Leo wants is to take her millions, and he can’t imagine forever without Miriam in his life. Leo’s yearned for one thing since walking out on her eight years ago—Miriam back in his life. He makes Miriam a counteroffer to give himself time to make up for the biggest mistake of his life.

I love Slaughter’s development and exploration of the characters and their relationships. In dual POV, she tells Miriam and Leo’s love story by interweaving flashes of memories from their past with the present. Miriam is stubborn, loyal, forthright, and generous, loving with all her heart and soul. Living in poverty without hope for a way out has given Miriam a bleak outlook. She gave Leo her heart as a young woman and never got it back. Miriam’s tried to move on and build a life without him and has managed to move on—mostly. But just as he’s in her heart, there are times her mind is full of him and thoughts of the life they had together before he left and broke her heart. You can’t help but root for Miriam to find her way and treat herself with all the love and care she so bigheartedly offers to the people she loves so she can live a life filled with hope happily ever after.

With Leo, Slaughter takes a character I fully expected to hate and made me not only change my mind about him but also had me hoping this silly man could resolve his issues and win Miriam back—only if it’s what she truly wants and would make her happy. I love how gone Leo is for Miriam and that she is the only one for him. Despite outward appearances considering that Leo walked out on Miriam and hasn’t contacted her since, Leo’s a sensitive, sweet, and honorable man who takes his responsibilities seriously, maybe slightly too seriously. He gets so caught up in ideas about who a man—and husband—is meant to be and what he should do because of how he was raised that he loses sight of everything else, including considering and respecting others’ feelings and identities in their relationships with him—especially Miriam. Leo’s martyr complex leads him to make poor choices.

Miriam and Leo’s fiery sexual chemistry and sexy, intimate, funny, sweet, passionate, and emotional love scene—combined with their banter and intimacy—further the plot and the evolution of their characters and relationship. Slaughter wonderfully explores how you can love someone with all your heart, but sometimes that may not be enough and doesn’t make things perfect. Relationships take courage, maturity, and work in addition to love. And sometimes, it takes time for people to grow into whom they’re meant to be alone before they can be someone else’s partner.

More than anything, I love how Slaughter explores the impact of winning the lottery on Miriam’s life and her loved ones. She thoughtfully examines how having money won’t heal the internal pains and scars, and whether it makes you happy or makes everything in your life change for the better is all up to you.

I love Slaughter’s writing style so much. Her stories always touch my heart and mind in unexpected ways while also being thoroughly entertaining. She makes me laugh and cry, but I still keep hoping for love to win. Slaughter’s characters’ discussions of mental health are written straightforwardly and with authenticity and sensitivity.

Play to Win is a beautifully written, fast-paced steamy, sexy, funny, angsty, sweet, and romantic novel about second chances, first love, family, facing fears, self-esteem, forgiveness, self-discovery, hope, trust, and fresh starts.

Advanced review copy provided by Griffin via Netgalley for review.

This second chance romance has sass, humor, and just the right amount of spice. An enjoyable read. Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my review.

Play to Win by Jodie Slaughter is my first novel by this author, but now I am eager to read her others! A huge thank you to St. Martin's Press and MacMillan Audio for granting me access to the ebook and audiobook!

Miri is not superstitious, but her mom is. Her mom always plays the lottery with exactly the same numbers. On a whim, Miri decides to buy herself a ticket and her entire life changes when her numbers hit. Miri not only tries to keep. her newly inherited fortune quiet, but she also tries to use the money to assist her loved ones. As far as characters go, Miri was instantly lovable.

One hiccup? Miri is technically still married to her estranged husband, Leo. So Miri has to swallow her pride and beg him to return to Greenbelt to grant her a divorce. It's clear from the moment Leo enters the tory that these two have unfinished business. The sizzle between these two jumps off the page.

I really really enjoyed this book! If you are listening, I do recommend ensuring your headphones are in! It gets steamy! Slaughter incorporated the sizzling romance in a way that feels authentic to Miri and Leo. I enjoyed watching their story unfold, reignite, and catch fire!

Miri is broke and struggling. On her way home from one of her side jobs, she remembers she has to buy a lotto ticket for her mom who buys them religiously in hopes of scoring big. As a last-minute thought, she decides to buy a ticket for herself and uses numbers that are important to her and embody her and her estranged husband’s relationship. As luck would have it, she wins the lottery and will have to now deal with the repercussions of winning aka she has to reach out to her estranged husband, Leo, and ask him to accept a cut of the money she won. What she doesn’t know is that Leo has continued loving her for the past 8 years even though they’ve been separated.

Overall, the premise of the story sounded interesting and the buildup of the romance between the characters felt real. My biggest gripe about the story was that most of their issues were over a lack of communication so it was super annoying that they couldn’t just get on with it, which made it difficult to want to finish the book.

Jodie is a queen! I love all the representation she adds to her books and how real her characters feel! This was such a fun premise for a book and I loved reading it!

I totally loved the characters in this book! Slaughter really nailed it by giving her characters depth and purpose, even her side characters were well developed. The banter was on point and the story was an absolute blast, I couldn't help but smile throughout. It was awesome to see sexuality being talked about and fully embraced. The main female character is proudly bisexual and the male love interest is either demisexual or somewhere on the ace spectrum, which I thought was pretty cool. All in all, I had a great time reading this one!

Second chance romance highly recommend, added bonus all the side characters were charismatic and supportive to the MCs. The build up in the second chance was really good, and fully satisfied.

Unfortunately I just wasn't really into Play to Win. Nothing specific I just wasn't feeling it. I may come back to it another time. The writing was well done.

Something I love more than anything is a second-chance romance and Jodie Slaughter delivered with her newest book!! The partners in this book have been separated for 8 years when our FMC wins the lottery and realizes she needs a real divorce, so her estranged husband won't have any access to her winnings. When she begs him to come back to town for a quick divorce for a chunk of money, he agrees, but only with intention of finally winning his wife back. These characters had so much chemistry right off the bat and the built in angst of the situation was so well done. I do wish the MMC had done a little more groveling in the book before they got back together but I still enjoyed this novel.

I adored the characters in this book. Slaughter does a great job os making sure her secondary characters have dimension and purpose. The banter was perfect and the story was so much fun, I couldn't stop smiling.

Jodie Slaughter brings us another romance, equally spicy and sweet, and, as always, so much fun!! I would recommend to any romance lovers, but specifically those who love a second-chance love story,

I really loved the set-up for this book! <i>Play to Win</i> follows our main character, Miriam, after she plays the lottery on a whim and wins...which also means she has to reach out to her estranged husband, Leo. She intends on offering him a lump sum of money and serving him divorce papers, but what ensues is a sweet second chance romance.

Overall, I liked this book. The eight year estrangement was lofty, especially given that Leo was the one who left, but in the end both of the characters really grew. And the spice?! I was driving to work and was so caught off guard I clutched the steering wheel in shock. Super steamy!

If you like second chance romance, banter, healing, and some spice, I'd say to check this out!

Play to Win is an entertaining second chance romantic comedy with some real steamy scenes. The second I read the synopsis I knew I had to read this, it was unique and didn't disappoint. The characters are loveable; you can't help but root for them, both main and supporting.



Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for a review!

3.5

A spicey rom-com by Jodie Slaughter. The female main character is going nowhere in life. She buys a lottery ticket and WINS millions. This lottery win means that she must contact her estranged husband after not speaking to him for 8 years. Of course, a second chance romance ensues. This was an okay read for me. Not the best and not the worst rom-com that I have read. I would try another by this author.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC. All opinions are my own.

Play to Win is a cute Rom- Com about second chances. Although it’s a slow paced book it is spicy! The small town setting has the drama flowing and it will hook you.

The short of it is that I loved this! I think because it felt so familiar in many ways. The smallish town. The corner store that has changed names so many times but you still call it the corner store. The single mama that you would literally give the entire world to if she’d let you.

And I am a sucker for a second chance romance so I was excited to read this one but what I did NOT expect was for it to have me all in my feelings thinking about money, finances, & the limitations of wealth when you’ve never known that life. Miri wins the lottery and can now truly never work another day in her life and give her mama all the things most kids of a single mom would want to give their mama. This resonated with me because I think about this a lot — what I would do if I could for my mama. Not to pay her back but to care for her because she’s cared and sacrificed so much for me. But also realizing that there are so many things that money just can’t do. And that comes with all of these feelings and new concerns. Again, this had me all in my feelings.

Now the romance! 🤭 This man was down bad. She called and he jumped in the car the same day. Left his job. Just got in the car and drove, lol.

I feel like it was pretty much a done deal that they were going to end up together. Yes, it’s romance but everyone expected it because they were one another’s first loves. Because of that, I didn’t mind the “will they/won’t they” because it was really a matter of if they could trust one another and actually communicate their fears, wants, and needs outside of expectations of what a husband and wife “should” be and do. They can define that for themselves, and that was just lovely.

I also completely missed that this was queer when I requested the ARC! It is delightfully queer. That was a fun surprise for me! A queer, fat, Black woman who takes charge & has a great community/support system? Yes please!

I do wish that we would have seen Miri actually go to therapy. She discussed it with a friend but didn’t go before the end of the book. It seemed like something she and perhaps they as a couple could have benefited from. That’s really the only thing I would have liked to have seen!

Other than that, I loved this. It made me smile, kick my feet, laugh out loud, and have a bit of an unexpected existential crisis. So that’s a win for me! 😉

This book is such a fun Romance that will have you grinning from
Beginning to end. I really liked the characters and this book will have readers thinking about money, love and maybe what they would do if they won the lottery. If you are a fan of this author’s previous novel, then you’ll wanna pick up Play To Win!

Everyone dreams of winning the lottery, I think, and I loved the thought of a book that explored the messy side of the win. This book delivers on that front but the ensuing messiness between Miri and Leo was toxic. I didn’t warm to either one of the characters and found them to be petty and annoying. I eventually gave up on this one. I couldn’t get through it.

I have heard wonderful things about Jodie Slaughter- so I was very excited to get this e-arc. However, I feel that I just did not connect with the characters, and I did not get engrossed in the story. It felt very slow, and I kept waiting for it to pick up. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. I just feel that it didn't stand out to me and it didn't leave that memorable impression on me after I finished it.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley. This was a good read and it read very smooth. Well worth the time spent reading it.

I really enjoyed Slaughter’s first book and was eager to read PTW. There was a lot I liked: the representation of being poor, the family dynamics and relationships Miri had with her mom, the glimpses of Miri and her friends, the house and the small town. The fat rep and possible ace rep (hard to 100% tell). BUT I think the overall Leo needed to grovel more. Like he left just cuz he couldn’t hang!!! His own insecurities. How do we know he won’t leave again? It makes it seem like money was the answer and honestly Miri should’ve made him fight more.

Overall it was ok. The sex scenes are so well done. And I truly liked a lot of it. But it took me over 2 weeks to finish and that’s saying something.

Miriam is feeling real unlucky. She is back at home with her mom, has an estranged husband and a job she doesn’t love. Her luck changes when she wins the lottery. What follows is a new beginning, second chance at love and a life overhaul. This was an enjoyable second chance romance.
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Thank you #griffin and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.