What a great book!
I loved Cameron and Maddie. They had such an amazing and intense connection. I truly enjoyed seeing their relationship develop throughout the book. The story and characters were well-developed making this book an enjoyable read.

This book is great for fans of the brother's best friend trope!

🏈brothers best friend
🏈childhood crush
🏈second chance
🏈football player
🏈secret relationship

this book was exactly what I wanted to read and I ate it up! it was a fun sports romance and the brother’s best friend aspect added just the right amount of tension 🤌🏼

I didn’t love that they kept their relationship a secret for as long as they did, but I understand that after their history it wasn’t easy to just say ‘oh yeah we’re in love now’.

Cameron has a very complicated relationship with grief and I really respect the author for diving into such a touch topic. he gave a really genuine perspective and it was sad yet healing to go along with him on his grief journey 💞

I loved this book. It was the perfect balance of cute/fun and emotional. This was a super entertaining read with really enjoyable characters. I do wish we got to see more of Maddie's parents though, they seem amazing. The book ended to soon, I want to keep reading about Maddie and Cameron. And hopefully Maya and Ethan too!

Great spice! I love the sibling relationship portrayed. The brother's best friend trope is a favorite. Faison did so well with this story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Four stars.

This book follows two young adults as they reconnect (mainly sexually) after a conflict from 6 years ago. I was unfortunately only able to get through 50% of this book for many reasons.

The first is the formatting. This book has a lot of flashbacks and there is no clear distinction between flashbacks and present day so the current time I am reading is confusing. The only tell tale sign I’ve notified is if the MMC’s mother is in the scene. There are also many pages (I am reading on kindle) where there will only be one word of text on each line for nearly the entire page and it is just so difficult to get through. I feel as though I can’t continue to read and review the plot if I do not know what is actually going on. I understand that this is an ARC, but the formatting is nearly unreadable and there are so many errors (including misspellings of the main characters names) that I feel as though it should have been at least roughly edited and formatted before making it this far.

My other issue is not the age gap, but the age of the two characters when they are discussing when their attraction first started. I believe the age gap between the characters is 3 years and they keep talking about how their attraction first started just before the MMC started high school which puts the FMC around 5th or 6th grade (10-12 years old) and the MMC talks about how he was distracted by her breasts. Personally, I cannot read about being attracted to a literal child and it is making me uncomfortable to the point that I am unable to finish the book.

The plot is pretty good, they came home for spring break. They’re “exploring” their relationship (mainly sexually) but have an expiration date. I don’t know what’s going to happen next as I am DNFing at the 50% mark, but I assume the MMC is going to start addressing his mental health concerns and the FMC is going to help him do so and then they will tell her brother and see how it goes once they are both back at their respective schools. I just think this might have been better with a 2-3 year gap between the past issue and present day as it currently reads like a wattpad book written by someone very young

It was cute! I enjoyed the characters and the story was well written. It seems more of a Happy For Now ending than Happily Ever After, but I enjoyed the ride regardless. The spice was good but not over the top. The only thing I didn't like was how much of a doormat the FMC seemed to be for the MMC. Other than that it was a good read.

I had never read this author, but this book was great! I really enjoyed the tropes, as well as the character development! Her characters are so realistic and lovable, and I didn’t want to put it down!

Rating: 3.75 (rounded to 4) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 3/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️
 
“It was always you”
 
I think it’s safe to say that most people can remember the name of their first crush. It might even be a safe bet to say that if you have a brother, you might have had a crush on one of his friends at one point or another. Cams first crush was his best friend’s little sister, Maddie. For Maddie, it was her brother’s best friend, Cam. When Cam suddenly loses his mother, his whole world turns upside down. Cam throws himself into football with dreams of being drafted by the NFL and earns himself a new name as a player (on and off the field), leaving Maddie behind. While both home on spring break, Cam and Maddie can no longer deny the feelings they have for each other. Does what happen at spring break, stay at spring break?
 
✨ Brothers Best Friend
✨ Spring Break
✨ Sports Romance (NFL hopeful bound MMC)
✨ Childhood Crush
✨ Friends to Lovers
✨ Dual POV
 
Thoughts:
* The flashbacks were a little confusing at times - there was no clear indication the book was about to go from present to past.
* I’m all for a spicy book, but the spice seems to have overtaken the plot.
* I love how protective Cam has always been of Maddie, even when they weren’t on the best of terms.
* Cam’s mental health/grief played a huge part in this book and I wish it was addressed sooner rather than the last 5-10% of the book.
* I’m always a fan of anything written in Dual POV.
* I absolutely adored the side characters (Ethan, Maddie’s brother and Maya, Maddie’s best friend) – wondering and hoping for a second book with them and an update on Cam & Maddie?
* Overall a super quick, fun read (filled with some fluff as well as spice)

TW: this book contains mentions of cancer (past in flashbacks / in present day conversations) and grief/loss of a parent.
 
Thank you so much to: Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group, W by Wattpad Books, Net Galley and of course Deanna Faison for an electronic advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Tropes: Brother's best friend/ Playboy and virgin/ childhood crushes/ NFL bound MMC/ Nerdy FMC

Playmaker felt like watching and episode of MTV's "Awkard" if anyone remembers that show. It was a lot of going to parties. Maddie the shy, nerdy girl who not used to being there. Cameron is the hot shot playboy who gets all the girls. Other Cameron losing his mother and that deepening his character, this was all a story we have seen before. This book also is spice over plot. I'm more of a plot driven person myself. This book was fine, it just wasn't anything groundbreaking.

If you’re a big fan of Icebreaker by Hannah Grace or Consider Me by Becky Mack, then this is for you! A football player and his brother’s best friend spend a few weeks on break exploring their feelings. There’s spice and drama, which I expect nothing less from a Wattpad book 💋

3.5

i say this with love, but this 100% DOES give wattpad (which makes sense, because it came from there). no shade, it just has the high drama and heavy sex you’d expect LOL. i did like it, though, and it was a fun read. i’d recommend it if you need something fluffy with low stakes.

#netgalley

Rating: 4.5/5
Spice: 3.5/5

I loved this book. The perfect blend of spice and plot sprinkled in with all of the romance feels was making me giggle and kick my feet. Maddie and Cameron's relationship was so enticing and intriguing to follow along. They went from childhood friends...to a heartbreak...to strangers...to re connection...to lovers?! I really liked getting all of the backstory between them and they were so interconnected in each others lives... it really made sense for them to be together.

ALSO... the brothers best friend?! How scandalous, but I loved it. I was EATING up the secretiveness and the scarcity of their relationship. They had to keep everything on the DL and sneak around?! AGHH the tension. I thought the spice was good. It didn't feel cringe or overdone... they felt like college kids who were in love and LONGING for one another that they made every spicy moment intentional and count.

I will be recommending this one!!

Tropes:
- Brothers best friend
- Friends to lovers
- Sports romance
- Spicy romance

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I am first to say that I am wary of sports romance novels, but I liked this one a ton. It is pretty spicy, so if that’s not your type of romance novel, this one won’t be for you. If you do like spice, you’ll really enjoy this one! My only issue was I didn’t love the way the flashbacks were done— it confused me at times. But, I really loved both lead characters and the author deserves major props for making Cameron so lovable, despite me thinking I was going to hate him at the start. This book is definition of the trope “she fell first, he fell harder” and it’s just an enjoyable read

[Thank you to Netgalley and Wattpad Webtoon Book Group for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.]

This book was... fine? It's cute but not memorable. It's an easy read that you can finish in a day. 

The story seems to forgo plot in favor of spice. That would be fine but it's a 400 page book and at a certain point it gets repetitive. I hadn't even made it to the half-way point and I was already anticipating the third act break-up to happen (I was shocked by how much was left when I looked at the progress bar).

I think it could have been edited significantly. I also would have appreciated if the flashbacks were better explained (ie. “5 years ago”) because there are a few jumps and maybe it’s the way the eARC was formatted, but the flashback scenes didn’t immediately register as such.

4.5 stars!

I loved Playmaker. How much, you ask? Well, I read the entire book on my phone after thinking I would just check out a few pages before I could go home and grab my Kindle! I was totally incapable of putting it down.

The history between Cam and Maddie, how they grew up together, had me rooting for them from page one. I loved the spice in this book because of the passion between the characters. It all felt very authentic to me, and since I’m not a huge fan of insta-love, this book was right up my alley.

Cam and Maddie face some tough challenges as they navigate grief and uncertainties together, but their story is honestly captivating. Think fluffy, spicy, sports romance with a totally believable connection between the MMC and FMC. This book is so easy to adore.

The Summer I Turned Pretty meets Ice Breaker ❤️🥵
When I saw that this was a brother's best friend and sport romance, I was so excited.
Immediately off the bat, Cam was giving Conrad from the Summer I Turned Pretty vibes. Throughout the book, I found many parallels between the two. The love story was sweet but definitely had the spice that you crave. I absolutely devoured this book and will recommend it to my friends!!

This story was adorable. I absolutely love Maddie and Cameron! Their story will have you feeling it all.
I sat down at 9:00pm last night and finished it at 1:45am. It was a super easy read.

Do you love a spicy brothers best friends, sports romance? if so this it!!

Thank you Netgalley and W by Wattpad Books for inviting me to read Playmaker! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you're looking for a book based on pure spice, Playmaker has a ton of it.
If you're looking for plot with a high spice level, you're not going to find much plot in this book.

Playmaker is possibly one of the horniest books I've read in a while. I'm not sure if I mean that in a good or a bad way because it could be taken as both.

I don't mind a spicy book but I prefer to have a plot attached. I want to be able to care about the characters and their romance. I felt neither for Cameron, upcoming NFL player, and Maddie, slightly extroverted bookworm. Both leads have been crushing on the other since childhood and neither have acted on that until now. Cameron is a womanizer, who chases women due to grief from losing his mother, and Maddie is a virgin, who wants to make sure her first time counts and is with the right person. When they are blindfolded and put in a closet together they figure out the other person with them is the other and instead of stopping in awkwardness they continue and realize the attraction is real between them. Neither wants to be attached as they will both be leaving for school when spring break is over and they might not see each other again.

Tropes featured but not limited to:
- will they / won't they
- sports romance
- friends to dislike to lust
- childhood crush

I'm sorry but I don't think this book was for me. The leads were a little insufferable to follow but I did like the secondary characters: Ethan, Maddie's older brother and Maya, Maddie's best friend, who also have crushes on each other. If they end up having their own book I might read it but I might also skip it based on my feelings on Playmaker.

2.5 stars

I was lucky enough to receive this advanced reader copy and it had everything i needed in it. It was sweet, spicy, emotional, and laugh out loud (seriously) funny.

I love Mads + Cam. They’re such a wholesome couple i’m forever glad I have read about.

it doesn’t get better than a brothers best friend sports romance 🤪

This is a brother's best friend, enemies to lovers, football romance.

Maddie is home for break with her brother and his best friend Camron. She has been in love with him most of her life. Five years ago, he pushed her out of his life and broke her heart.

When Camron's mother passed away from cancer he changed. He pushed Maddie away and became a playboy. He knew he could not be the guy that she needed. Now a game of seven minutes in heaven will change everything.

This was just an ok book for me. I liked the secondary characters more than the leads. I did not really like Camron or Maddie. Camron was shallow and most of the pain he was going through was self-inflicted. I felt like Maddie was a door mat. No matter what Camron did, she always forgave him with little to no groveling.

They went from hating each other to having some kind of sex almost every chapter. I might have liked it more if things had gone a little slower or Maddie had held a grudge just a little longer. This was also marketed as a football romance, however there was almost no football to be seen. There were vague mentions of him training but no football at all.

Thank you NetGalley and Wattpad WEBTOON book group for this title in exchange for my very honest review.